Photo Credit: Tami Quan Photography
February 22nd, 2020
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors finish the regular season with a thrilling shootout victory over the Vernon Vipers Saturday night.
The Warriors came out of the gate strong scoring the first goal of the Ryan Upson and Brennan Nelson combining to find Levi Stauber in the right circle. Stauber’s wrist shot was enough to beat Vipers goaltender Keegan Karki to give the Warriors an early 1-0 lead only 89 seconds into the game. The Vipers would go on the attack the rest of the period with Ben Helegeson tying the game up at one a piece. The Vipers would spend the rest of the period inside the Warriors zone but Riley Morgan stood tall stopping 19 of 20 shots in the first period alone.
It was back and forth in the second period with Riley Morgan standing tall in the first little bit robbing some of the star players for the Vipers early on. The Warriors would get the go ahead goal after Colby Elmer would spring loose on a breakaway giving the Warriors a 2-1 lead. Onl minutes later the Vipers would even things up with Ben Helgeson stepping out of the penalty box on a breakaway of his own. With under a minute remaining in the second the Warriors would get another breakaway after Carter Wilkie was able to find Elan Bar Lev Wise who beat Keegan Karki to restore the one goal lead for the Warriors after the second.
The third period was an absolute thriller. It all started at the midway point of the third with the Vipers Ben Helgeson scoring a hatrick to tie it up at three. Warriors Colby Elmer would go the other way scoring his second of the game to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead, then the Vipers would score a quick pair from Dawson Holt and Matt Kowalski to make it 5-4. Down by a goal with under three minutes to go, the Warriors needed a break and they got it. Vipers blue liner Landon Fuller coughed up the puck in his own zone to Deegan Mofford who rifled the puck past Karki tying the game up sending it to overtime. Overtime wasn’t enough and the game would go to the shootout. During the shootout each team scored one goal forcing extra shooters. In the fifth round Warriors forward Ryan Upson scored putting all pressure on the Vipers who sent out former Warrior Max Bulawka who was robbed by Riley Morgan giving the Warriors a 6-5 shootout victory and a sweep of the two game set to close the regular season.
Final shots on goal: 47-25 in favour of the Vipers.
Three Stars:
- WKW F Colby Elmer (2G)
- VER F Ben Helgeson (3G)
- WKW F Brennan Nelson (2A)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game:
WKW F Riley Sharun
The Warriors next game is Thursday February 27th versus the Penticton Vees. Puck drop 7:00pm from South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton. This game will be streamed on Hockey TV and will be broadcast on the Warriors radio network on Mixlr.
