Playing their 4th game in 5 days, the Warriors battled back from an early deficit to earn a 3-3 tie against a physical and speedy Chiefs squad on Sunday in Chilliwack.
After gutting-out a 3-1 victory over Vernon the night before, the Warriors showed signs of fatigue and ‘bus-legs’ early in the game, allowing a pair of goals (scored by David Bondra and Michael Spring) in the first 3 ½ minutes of the opening period.
But rather than giving up, the Tribe battled back. “It put the light bulb on for us when we went down two” says Warrior Dru Morrison of the early deficit. “We had to work even harder to get ourselves back in it.”
It was Morrison who sparked the comeback, when he drilled a long shot past Chiefs starter Mitch Gillam to get Westside on the board late in the first. “I just kept my head down and shot it as hard as I could” smiled Morrison of the shot
Mathew Berry-Lamontagna’s first BCHL goal early in the second pulled Westside even, and chased Gillam from the game. Bryton Udy would check in for the Chiefs, and allow the go-ahead goal soon after, on a screened shot from Peter MacIntosh.
The Chiefs then took their turn to battle back, and evened the score on an Anderson White drive that deflected off a Warrior and past Dwayne Rodrigue.
The contest also became quite combative in the second half, with three separate fights and plenty of rough-stuff during play and after the whistles.
But with no more goals to be found, the contest would head to 4-on-4 overtime and then 3-on-3 double OT, before the clubs settled for a single point each.
In the end, shots favoured the Chiefs by a 48-32 count. Neither team had any success on the powerplay, with Westside going 0/2 on the man-advantage and Chilliwack going 0/3.
At week’s end, the Chiefs still lead the Warriors by ten points for the fourth and final playoff spot in the BCHL’s Interior Conference.
The teams will meet five more times this season, including this Wednesday night in West Kelowna.
Check out The General’s Report for ongoing coverage of the Westside Warriors.
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