The West Kelowna Warriors, for the third straight game, used a five-goal effort from five different goal scorers to help them to a 5-1 victory over the Powell River Kings in their final game of the BCHL Showcase at the Chilliwack Coliseum.
Both the Warriors and Kings have been strong on the special teams this season and each team’s power play flexed their muscles in the opening frame, scoring once as it was Powell River who found the back of the net first at the 4:44 mark of the 1st period and came courtesy of Parker Lalonde.
Casey Aman gathered the puck inside the blue line and walked into the slot with a shot that was fought off by Warriors goaltender Angelo Zol before Lalonde, standing at the top of the crease, was able to get to the puck and bury it past the blocker side of Zol to give the Kings a 1-0 lead in the opening five minutes of the game.
The West Kelowna power play had an answer for that and came from defenseman Matt Fusco, who tied the BCHL lead with 3 power play goals on the season and got him team all tied up at 1-1. Luke Devlin walked to the blue line and slung a pass to the left face-off circle for an awaiting Fusco as he blasted a one-time shot through the blocker side of Kings goaltender Kyle Metson and squeaked past the goal line for his 4th goal of the season and levelled the score at 1-1 at the 7:40 mark of the opening frame.
West Kelowna took control of the game in the second period with three goals, beginning at the 7:35 mark of the period with a shorthanded goal coming from Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero. Chris Duclair did a great job of prying the puck free in the right wing corner, stripping a Powell River defender and centering a pass for Van Houtte-Cachero, who slashed the puck past Metson for his 3rd goal of the season and the first Warriors lead of the game at 2-1.
A pair of BCHL firsts took place in the period as well, beginning with the first goal for Luke Devlin in his career, scoring at the 9:46 mark of the 2nd frame to put the Warriors ahead by a 3-1 score. Felix Caron put on a shot from the left face-off circle with Metson making one save, denying Matthew Lee on the rebound before Devlin potted the third chance opportunity to beat Metson on the blocker side to give the Warriors a 3-1 advantage.
The Warriors rounded out their scoring in the period, and a frame where they outshot the Kings by a 20-9 margin, on a fortunate corner bounce. Isaiah Norlin sent the puck in from centre ice as it kareemed off the right corner boards and bounced off the right post to the front of the net where Matthew Lee shot into an open goal, with Metson out of the net to play the puck, for his first career BCHL goal and pushed the Warriors ahead by a 4-1 score at the 16:05 mark of the 2nd period.
Felix Caron concluded the scoring in the game at the 8:04 mark of the 3rd period and tallied the lone marker of the final frame with his 4th goal of the season. Caron was spotted in the slot from below the goal line by Rylee Hlusiak as he shot wide of the net before taking the end wall bounce and beating Metson on the glove side to push West Kelowna ahead by a 5-1 score.
Angelo Zol was terrific in his 1st start of the season for the Warriors, turning aside 27 of the 28 shots thrown his way in his 1st win of the season while Kyle Metson made 30 saves on 35 shots against in his 3rd loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 5-1 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 35-28 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/4
WARRIORS PK: 2/3
3 STARS:
1) Chris Duclair (0-1-1)
2) Luke Devlin (1-1-2)
3) Matt Fusco (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Sam Belanger (0-0-0)
Next up for the Warriors (6-1-2-0) is another road trip as they will travel south of the border for the first time this season to face-off against the Wenatchee Wild (2-4-0-1) on Friday night.