Photo Credit: Endless Moments Photography
January 20th, 2019
WEST KELOWNA B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors celebrate Rogers Hometown Hockey with a 6-1 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings Sunday afternoon.
The Warriors needed a great start against a very good defensive club like the Spruce Kings and they got just that and more. It only took a minute for the Warriors to score the first goal and it was a simple shot that redirected off a Spruce Kings defender and in to make it 1-0. Only a minute and a half later Anthony Bishop would fire a puck which would bounce off the glove of Spruce Kings goaltender Keenan Rancier and in to make it 2-0. That would do it for Keenan Rancier who was pulled for Logan Neaton. The Warriors wouldn’t be done there, at the 12 minute mark the Warriors would continue the relentless pressure in the attacking zone where defender Wyatt Head would wrist the puck from the point past Logan Neaton to make it 3-0. The Spruce Kings would add one late to make it 3-1 after the first period.
The second period it was all Warriors again, and the top line was looking good. First it was Lucas Cullen who skated around majority of the Spruce Kings team and fed a backhand pass to a wide open Chase Dubois in the slot who made no mistake to make it 4-1. The Warriors would then go on the powerplay in the later stages of the second period where a tic tac toe passing play between Dubois and Wyatt Head allowed Parm Dhaliwal to one time his 12th goal of the season to make it 5-1. Then things went from bad to worse for the Spruce Kings with Willie Reim skating into the attacking zone firing a weak wrist shot from the point which went off the glove of Logan Neaton and in, and the Warriors would head to the dressing room with a commanding 6-1 lead. The Warriors would keep it at 6-1 thanks to some incredible goaltending from Connor Hopkins who stopped a total of 44 shots. Hopkins this weekend faced a total of 79 shots, stopping 77 of them.
Shots on goal 45-27 in favor of the Spruce Kings.
3 Stars
- WKW F Chase Dubois (1G-2A)
- WKW F Parm Dhaliwal (1G-2A)
- WKW G Connor Hopkins (44 Saves)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
WKW F Cavin Tilsley
The Warriors next game is Tuesday night versus the Langley Rivermen. Puck drop at 7:15pm from George Preston Arena in Langley. Catch Tuesday’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.
