The West Kelowna Warriors scored five times in the 2nd period that helped propel them from a 3-0 deficit to take down the Penticton Vees by a 6-3 score on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
Trent Wilson, Felix Caron, Michael Salandra, Kaiden Schaupmeyer and Jack Pridham helped spur the Warriors back from a three-goal deficit in the first period. Justin Katz came into the game and turned aside each of the 20 shots thrown his way in a solid relief performance.
Penticton got out to a strong start in the game, scoring at the 3:01 mark of the opening period with Cal Arnott getting the Vees on the scoreboard before a power play with just one second remaining in it gave the Vees a 2-0 edge.
James Fischer had his shot from the right face-off circle sneak through Rorke Applebee, who started in net for the Warriors, while Cade Littler capped off the scoring in the opening period at the 18:16 margin and put the Warriors behind the eight ball.
The Warriors had other ideas in the second period, scoring five times including 3 goals in the opening 4:10 of the period as Trent Wilson kicked off the scoring stretch with his 9th goal of the season, redirecting a pass from Jack Pridham, collecting one of his three points on the night.
A power play just under a minute later helped West Kelowna get within a marker with Felix Caron scoring his 17th goal after taking a Michael Salandra pass at the top of the right face-off circle and zipping a shot over the blocker side of Vees goaltender Will Ingemann.
Salandra did one better at the 4:10 mark of the period and tied the game with his 10th goal of the season, taking an Eliot Compton pass from below the goal line and finishing over the glove before the 1st BCHL goal from Kaiden Schaupmeyer gave the Warriors their first lead of the night.
Pridham gave the puck to the right blue line and Schaupmeyer dragged and shot from the right point that rose over the shoulder of Ingemann at the 7:54 mark of the second period that pushed West Kelowna ahead by a goal and gave them their first advantage of the night.
Completing a stretch of five goals in just over 11 minutes, Jack Pridham finished what was a massive 2nd period for the home side as he collected his 11th goal of the season with a slap shot that got past Ingemann, who had his night cut short following the goal.
The Warriors surrendered just 5 shots in the second period before the Vees made a charge in the 3rd period but Katz and the Warriors stood tall before Caron added his BCHL-leading 18th goal of the season into the empty net at the 17:55 mark of the final period to add the icing on the cake.
Applebee turned away 8 of the 11 shots he faced in the start before Katz came on and made saves on all 20 shots he saw in his 2nd win of the season. Will Ingemann made 10 saves on 15 shots in his 3rd loss of the season before Andrew Ness came into the game and made 12 saves on 12 shots.
FINAL SCORE: 6-3 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-28 Vees
WARRIORS PP: 1/4
WARRIORS PK: 2/5
3 STARS:
1) Jack Pridham (1-2-3)
2) Isaiah Norlin (0-3-3)
3) Felix Caron (2-0-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Justin Katz (20 saves on 20 shots)
Attendance: 1,089
The Warriors (19-6-3-0) will take 10 days away from the rink before getting on the bus and hitting the road for Prince George with the game available on AM 1150 as well as HockeyTV.