PHOTO: Ross Alman/Digital Media Northwest
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 10th, 2017
WENATCHEE, WA. – The West Kelowna Warriors gave up a season-high nine goals in a 9-2 loss to the Wenatchee Wild on Friday night at the Town Toyota Center.
The first period didn’t see a whole of action between the two sides, with a combined 10 shots coming in the frame and Warriors netminder Cole Demers making 8 saves on 9 shots with Wenatchee goaltender Seth Eisele only facing one shot in the first frame.
The Wild opened the scoring in the contest at the 15:22 mark of the opening frame on a tic-tac-toe passing play started in the neutral zone. Cooper Zech took a pass from Lucas Sowder just across the blue line and spotted an open Jasper Weatherby skating down the left side and the Wenatchee forward took the pass from Zech and fired past the blocker side of Demers for a 1-0 Wild advantage and the only goal of the opening period.
The scoring got going, in a big way, with Wenatchee tallying four goals in the middle stanza, starting just 1:03 in as AJ Vanderbeck scored the right half-wall with a wrist shot past Demers to give the Wild a 2-0 advantage.
Jasper Weatherby added his second goal of the night at the 5:45 mark of the 2nd period as a scramble on the blocker side of Demers saw the puck behind him and his night come to an end as he was relieved by newcomer Cody Porter in the Warriors net.
The Warriors got some momentum off of the goaltending switch as Chase Dubois fired a shot from the left side that got over the glove of Eisele for his team-leading 9tn goal of the season and a 3-1 Wenatchee lead.
West Kelowna made it a one-goal game at the 11:17 mark of the middle frame on a power play as a Jake Harrison point shot deflected off of the body of a Wild defender in front of the goal and his 5th marker of the season cut the deficit to 3-2.
The Wild scored six unanswered goals after the Harrison marker, Sam Morton pushed Wenatchee ahead by a 4-2 score at the 14:25 mark before Jared Christy deposited a Warrior turnover into the back of the net at the 16:17 mark of the 2nd to put the Wild up by a 5-2 score after 40 minutes.
Wenatchee scored four more times in the 3rd period as Vanderbeck tallied his second goal of the game at the 6:50 mark with Lucas Sowder finding the back of the net at the 10:50 mark to make it a 7-2 Wenatchee advantage with both goals coming on the power play.
Morton added his second goal of the game at the 12:49 mark on another Wenatchee power play before Weatherby completed the hat trick at the 15:59 mark of the 3rd period to make it a 9-2 final score in favour of the Wild.
Cole Demers got the start in goal for the Warriors, making 13 saves on 16 shots for his 3rd loss of the season before being relieved by Cody Porter, who stopped 21 of the 27 shots he faced in his first appearance of the season. Seth Eisele stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced in the game for his 5th victory of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 9-2 Wild
FINAL SHOTS ON GOAL: 40-16 Wild
Warriors PP: 1/5
Warriors PK: 6/9
3 Stars:
1) Jasper Weatherby (3-2-5)
2) Lucas Sowder (1-3-4)
3) AJ Vanderbeck (2-1-3)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Murphy Stratton (0-2-2)
ATTENDANCE: 2,717
The Warriors (13-9-0-0) return home to Royal LePage Place for a Sunday matinee against the Prince George Spruce Kings (0-0-0-0). Puck drop is slated for 2:30 PM with tickets available at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the door ahead of the opening face-off.
The Warriors are holding a live auction for their Remembrance Day jerseys that were wore in honour of the veterans on Wednesday, November 8th against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. Visit www.westkelownawarriors.ca/auction for more information and to learn how to bid on your favourite Warriors players jersey! The bidding comes to a close on Tuesday, November 14th at 3:00 PM.
