Angelo Zol turned away 25 shots as the Warriors edged Trail 1-0 at RLP Saturday
In a true four-pointer between the top two teams in the BC Hockey League’s Interior Conference it was going to come down to who blinked first.
The West Kelowna Warriors made sure it wasn’t them in an incredibly entertaining, playoff-style 1-0 win over the visiting Trail Smoke Eaters.
In a game devoid of many whistles, both teams pushed the pace, defended hard, checked hard and didn’t give up much.
“They are very structured, they play hard and they make it hard so you have to manage pucks properly,” said head coach Simon Ferguson.
“They did that to us and we did that to them and, we came up with the one shot, we have a massive save from Zol and I think they hit the crossbar at the end.”
It had the atmosphere of a game that might not see its first goal until overtime if that – which certainly isn’t a winning recipe on Teddy Bear Toss night.
Fortunately for the Warriors, their fans and the Kelowna Gospel Mission and Salvation Army who benefitted from the warm winter gear and teddy bears, the home side did eventually break through.
Dylan Krayer, who hit the crossbar twice Friday, found just enough room under the bar from a sharp angle at 13:10 to launch the hundreds of stuffed animals, toques, gloves and socks.
“I kind of blanked for a second. I really didn’t know it went in,” said Krayer.
“I originally was going to pass it to (Ruslan Jamaldinov) backdoor but I saw some space and I thought I would just give it a rip and it went in.
“It was a good feeling to score after hitting the crossbar twice yesterday.” Ferguson, there was extra pressure for Krayer to score at that particular moment.
“He had to score because I called him off, and he didn’t want to come off so he had no choice on that,” said Ferguson.
“End of the shift, I thought it was time to change and he thought he had to score. So, he wins.”
Both goaltenders came up big, but none better than Zol in the third who made a couple of keys saves and one huge stop during a wild scramble around his crease as time was expiring.
The officials took several minutes to review the final sequence before determining the puck never crossed the goal line.
The win was Zol’s 14th of the season and second shutout. He now leads the league in wins (14), goals against average (1.66) and save percentage (.932).
The game had the feel of a playoff game and a heavyweight title fight all rolled into one. “We knew coming into the game it was going to be a tight battle…both teams are fast, big and bought into their structure so we knew whoever played harder and play safer was going to win,” said Krayer.
“We knew it was going to be like a playoff game too.
“It’s always like that when you play Trail because they didn’t give you a lot and we knew it was going to be like that so we were ready to go.”
“The Warriors penalty killers continue to do an outstanding job. They went three-for-three on the penalty kill giving them 21 straight successful kills.
Saturday’s win improved the Warriors record to 19-3-2-0. Their 40 points are now four better than the second place Smoke Eaters.
The Warriors are off now until next weekend when they hook up with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in a home-and-home set.
The teams meet Friday at Royal LePage Place before heading to Salmon Arm Saturday.
Wayne Moore. (2025, December 6th). Warriors Blank Smokies. https://www.castanet.net/news/BCHL/588128/Angelo-Zol-turned-away-25-shots-as-the-Warriors-edged-Trail-1-0-at-RLP-Saturday
