Photo Credit: Tami Quan Photography
March 3rd, 2020
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors near perfect game leads to a thrilling overtime victory over the Penticton Vees Tuesday night.
The Warriors came out flying in the first period but Yaniv Perets stood tall making a couple great saves keeping it scoreless. The Warriors perfect game took a hit late in the period after a turnover in their own zone led to Lukas Sillinger beating Johnny Derrick to give the Vees a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors once again would start the period with a bang with all four lines maintaining puck possession inside the attacking. The Vees would have a late push in the second frame but Johnny Derrick kept it 1-0 Vees heading into the dressing room.
The Warriors needed their best third period of the series and they got it. After Johnny Derrick made one of his best stops of the year to keep it 1-0, the Warriors second line would go on the attack. After some relentless forechecking in the Vees zone, Deegan Mofford would kick the puck to Colby Elmer behind the net where Elmer would find Ryan Novecosky open in the right circle beating Yaniv Perets to tie the game and force overtime.
In the extra frame it seemed the Warriors got caught in their own zone once again but Johnny Derrick remained calm, cool and collected stopping 3 Vees shots allowing the Warriors to breakout into the attacking zone. When Vees defender Ethan Martini turned the puck over to Jake Harrison, Harrison would wrist the puck down to Tyler Cristall who would beat Yaniv Perets giving the Warriors their first victory of the playoffs. The Vees lead the best of seven series 3-1.
Final shots on goal: 39-37 in favour of the Vees.
Three Stars:
- WKW G Johnny Derrick (38 Saves)
- WKW F Tyler Cristall (1G)
- PEN G Yaniv Perets (35 Saves)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
WKW F Carter Wilkie
The Warriors next game is Wednesday March 4th versus the Penticton Vees. Puck drop 7:00pm from the South Okanagan Events Centre. This game will be streamed on Hockey TV and will be broadcast on the Warriors radio network on Mixlr.
