The West Kelowna Warriors saw a third-period lead slip away Friday night, falling 5-4 to the Spruce Grove Saints in a back-and-forth battle at Thompson Family Arena.
The Warriors came out sharp early and capitalized on the power play to open the scoring. Just over four minutes in, Ruslan Jamaldinov buried his 26th of the season off a clean setup from Natan Éthier and Caden Kemkaran-Humble to give West Kelowna a 1-0 lead.
Spruce Grove responded quickly, however, as Declan Waddick evened the game before Josh Polak gave the Saints their first lead midway through the opening frame. The Warriors answered back before the period was out, with Kelsen Podworny finishing a play on his own to knot things up 2-2 after twenty minutes.
The second period tightened up defensively, with both sides trading penalties but neither able to find the back of the net. Goaltender Angelo Zol stood tall during a key four-minute penalty kill, helping keep the game even heading into the third.
Early in the final frame, the Saints regained the lead off the stick of Tre Peck, but the Warriors pushed back hard in the middle stages. Podworny struck again with his second of the night, finishing off a setup from Philip Hagen and Max Dinneen to tie the game. Moments later, Liam Nilsson jumped into the play and buried his 17th of the season to give West Kelowna a 4-3 advantage with just over five minutes to play.
But the Saints had one final push.
Carson Lloyd tied the game at 4-4 with under three minutes remaining, and just 52 seconds later, Waddick struck again—his second of the night—to give Spruce Grove the lead for good.
Despite a late push and pulling the goaltender, the Warriors couldn’t find the equalizer as the Saints held on for the 5-4 win.
Podworny led the way offensively for West Kelowna with two goals, while Jamaldinov added a goal and an assist. Zol made 26 saves in the loss.
Despite the loss the Warriors locked in the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy as the league regular season winners, as a result of Cowichan loosing to Victoria. The Warriors are back in action Saturday as they continue their road trip in the final game of the regular season tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 7:00pm MDT catch the game on FloHockey.
