Photo Credit: Julie Pringle(Snap Photography)
DECEMBER 14th, 2018
WEST KELOWNA B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors slay the Merritt Centennials Friday night 6-3.
The Warriors needed to come out strong versus a Centennials club that are used to putting up 3 or more goals on the Warriors after the first. This time around it was the Warriors coming out strong scoring twice to start the hockey game. First it was Lucas Cullen on the power play scoring his 18th of the season to make it 1-0, then Mike Hardman scoring league leading 25th of the season to make it 2-0. Connor Hopkins made a couple sensational stops late keeping the Centennials off the score sheet after one.
After killing a 4 minute penalty to start the second period, the Warriors would push back and draw a penalty of their own, and it was the Hendersonville Tennessee native Lucas Bahn who was able to score his 3rd of the season to make it 3-0 Warriors. The Centennials would push back with another powerplay opportunity but couldn’t solve Connor Hopkins who was playing his best game as a member of the Warriors at this point. The Centennials needed a spark late, and it was Christian Sabin who dropped the gloves with Warriors forward Eric Olson which had both players trading a couple blows. The second period ended with the Centennials out shooting the Warriors 29-23.
The third period was a turning point for both clubs. The Warriors once again took their foot off the gas pedal allowing the Centennials to spend majority of the period in the West Kelowna zone. The Cents would score two interesting goals, one where Brad Cocca fired the puck on the side of the net which hit the skate of Connor Hopkins and in, and then a Mattias Dal Monte shot from the point which hit a Warriors defender and went in. The Centennials would then tie the game up with a scrum around the crease allowing Matt Kopperud to tap in the empty net goal with Connor Hopkins on his back. The whole entire building went silent as the Warriors 3 goal lead was erased, but less than a minute and a half later Parm Dhaliwal would skate down and shelf one past Austin Roden that quickly went in and out of the net, prompting a bit of a delayed reaction from the fans, making it 4-3 Warriors. That would be the momentum the Warriors needed to take over. With under 4 minutes to go in the hockey game the Warriors were pressing in the Cents zone, and it plenty of room to move, the former Tri City American Anthony Bishop scored his first BCHL goal to make it 5-3. The Centennials would allow an empty net goal from Warriors Captain Cavin Tilsley to make it 6-3 which would end up as the final score.
Shots on goal 51-33 in favor of the Centennials.
3 Stars
- WKW G Connor Hopkins (48 Saves)
- WKW D Lucas Bahn (1G)
- WKW F Parm Dhaliwal (1G-1A)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
WKW F Eric Olson
The Warriors next game is afternoon versus the Cowichan Capitals. Puck drop at 2:30pm from Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna. Catch Sunday’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.
