Following a four-game home stand, the West Kelowna Warriors play their first of three straight BCHL games on the road this afternoon in Salmon Arm. Face off at the Shaw Centre between the Warriors and Silverbacks is 3 p.m.
Rylan Ferster’s Interior Division-leading Warriors (11-4-0) edged the Cowichan Valley Capitals 3-2 last night at Royal LePage Place.
The Warriors scored twice in a 25-second span early in the third period en route to their seventh win in the last eight games.
The Warriors opened the scoring at the 9:05 mark of the first period of play as Bennett Norlin cashed in for his 4th goal of the season. Stephen Kleysen had his mid-point shot stopped by Capitals netminder Yann Dery but the rebound was put in by Norlin and gave the Warriors a 1-0 advantage.
Cowichan Valley tied the game just before the period was out as a puck found Ty Pochipinski in front of the Warriors net on an Andrew McCann shot. The Cowichan forward deked in tight and beat Warriors Cole Demers on the glove side to tie the game at one to finish the period off at 1-1.
There would be a change in the Cowichan net as Adam Marcoux would take over in between the pipes after Yann Dery left the game after 20 minutes due to an injury. Dery stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced in the opening frame.
The Capitals took their first lead of the night and it came courtesy of a power play that lasted only 3 seconds before the puck was in the back of the net. Azzaro Tinling wristed a shot over the glove side of Demers to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead at the 5:50 mark of the 2nd period.
The rest of the period went by scoreless but not without some fireworks as Cavin Tilsley and Capitals forward Nicholas Wilson dropped the gloves, both landing some good right hand shots and set the scene for the final period of play.
The Warriors didn’t take long into the third period to tie the game as just 1:09 into the frame, a deflection got the game knotted back up. Jake Harrison threw a shot on goal from the right point that deflected off of Matt Campese and into the back of the net for Campese’s 3rd goal of the season and a 2-2 tie.
Just 25 seconds later, Chase Dubois scored his third goal in the last two games and the eventual game winner. At the 1:34 mark of the period, Chase Stevenson backhanded a gorgeous pass from behind the net to an awaiting Dubois in the left face-off circle who made no mistake for his 6th goal of the season and a 3-2 Warriors lead.
Cole Demers shut the door in the third frame with 15 saves to go along with his 27 total on the night in 29 shots for his fifth win of the season while Dery turned aside 15 of the 16 first period shots he faced before Adam Marcoux stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced for his 10th loss of the season.
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