Photo Credit: Garrett James
February 9th, 2019
PORT ALBERNI B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors put together a complete team game to defeat the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 7-4 Sunday afternoon.
It was a rough start to the game for the Warriors with Parm Dhaliwal going to the penalty box within the first 30 seconds of the hockey game. This led to Bulldogs forward Jackson Doucet to rifle a puck past some traffic in front of the net and in to make it 1-0. The Warriors would be quick to answer back with Anthony Bishop throwing a harmless wrist shot past the glove of Bulldogs goaltender Cole Demers to tie it up at one. In the final 5 minutes of the period the Warriors would force numerous turnovers in the neutral zone including a deflection which would lead to a Cavin Tilsley breakaway. The Warriors Captain would make no mistake making it 2-1. The pressure would continue very late in the period with the second line of Mike Hardman, Max Bulawka and Willie Reim going to work. A shot by Reim at the right side circle would go directly to the stick of Mike Hardman who scored his 33rd of the season to make it 3-1 with only 6 seconds remaining in the period.
The pressure for the Warriors continued throughout the second period. First, only 9 seconds in it was Parm Dhaliwal who was awarded a beautiful pass by Lucas Cullen to make it 4-1 Warriors. Then only 5 minutes later it would be Cavin Tilsley scoring his second of the game off a great feed by Wyatt Head to make it 5-1. In the final minute of the second period the Captain would pounce again with Wyatt Head faking a shot and delivering another feed to his Captain and Cavin Tilsley scoring his first career hatrick in the BCHL making it 6-1. The Bulldogs would score a power play goal with only 16 seconds left to cut the lead back to 4.
With a 6-2 lead, the Warriors decided to take their foot off the gas pedal. Four minutes into the third, the Bulldogs would go on a two on one which Warriors goaltender Brock Baier would stop, but Bulldogs defender Grayson Valente would crash the net scoring his 8th of the season to cut the lead to 3. In the final ten minutes the Bulldogs would continue to pressure the Warriors drawing another penalty leading to the Bulldogs fifth powerplay of the evening. The Bulldogs would get that much needed fourth goal from Mitch Deelstra – a friend of Brock Baier’s from Ontario. The lead went from 6-1 to 6-4 quickly and the Warriors did everything they could to prevent a third period meltdown. In the final 3 minutes of the game the Warriors would get in the way of numerous shots and reply on stellar goaltending from Brock Baier. Then with two minutes remaining Mike Hardman would find the empty net ending the game by a score of 7-4.
Shots on goal 33-28 in favor of the Warriors.
3 Stars
- WKW F Cavin Tilsley (3G)
- AV F Ryan Miotto (3A)
- WKW F Parm Dhaliwal (1G)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
AV D Aaron Bohlinger
The Warriors next game is Monday night versus the Powell River Kings. Puck drop at 7:00pm from Hap Parker Arena. Catch Monday’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.
