Photo Credit: Julie Pringle (Snap Photography)
NOVEMBER 14th, 2018
PENTICTON B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors split the home at home series with the Penticton Vees after a 7-4 loss Wednesday night.
The Vees were looking for retribution after suffering a 3-1 loss last night in Royal LePage Place. Over 2800 fans were in attendance to watch the Vees jump to an early lead. First it was Ryan Sandelin who was able to put one past goaltender Brock Baier to give the Vees a 1-0 lead only two minutes into the hockey game. Under two minutes later, Vees forward Jack Barnes was able to capitalize on a deflection to give the Vees an early two goal lead. At the 13 minute mark, the Vees would chase Brock Baier out of his net after a Massimo Rizzo shot went top corner and Penticton had an early 3-0 lead with shots on goal already 12-2 in favor of the Vees. Vees starter Brock Baier was replaced by Connor Hopkins after the third Vees goal. Things got bad to worse for the West Kelowna Warriors with Vees defenseman Kenny Johnson leaving his feet to hit Parm Dhaliwal in open ice. The hit would knock Parm Dhaliwal out of the game.
The Warriors would answer back early in the second period with a powerplay goal of their own. Lucas Cullen was able to tip a Lucas Bahn point shot and the Warriors were in business down by only two goals. The second period was mainly played in the Penticton end with momentum on their side until Vees forward Eric Linell was able to break loose past the Warriors defenders and shelf the puck top corner past Warriors goaltender Connor Hopkins and the three goal lead was restored for Penticton. The Warriors would then answer right back only two minutes later with the new look line of Willie Reim, Chase Dubois, and Mike Hardman connecting to cut the lead to two once again going into the third period.
The third period had both teams trading a pair of goals. Mike Hardman was able to score his 18th of the season and then Lucas Cullen was able to score his second of the night but it wasn’t enough as the Vees were able to cash in on the empty net goal and avoid a Warriors comeback winning 7-4. The first period was by far the game changer for the Vees: Getting a early lead while winning the physicality battle. The Vees failed to do that in the first three games they played versus the Warriors. The Penticton Vees and West Kelowna Warriors face off again with yet another home at home right before the Christmas break.
Shots on Goal: 45-30 in favor of the Vees
3 Stars:
- PEN F Ryan Sandelin (2G-2A)
- PEN F Cole Shepard (1G-1A)
- PEN F Massimo Rizzo (1G-1A)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
PEN D 3 Kenny Johnson (2A)
The Warriors next game is Friday night versus the Vernon Vipers. Puck drop at 7:00pm from Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna. Catch Friday’s game and every other home and away game this season on Mixlr and Hockey TV. Just head to the Warriors website and click on the “Listen Live” column to get directed to a radio feed of each game.
