The West Kelowna Warriors got goals from Michael Salandra and Jackson Kyrkostas but it was not enough as they dropped a 3-2 game to the Victoria Grizzlies on Tuesday afternoon at the BCHL Showcase at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Seattle, Washington.
Despite some good looks inside of the offensive zone, the Warriors found themselves trailing by a goal after the opening 20 minutes of play as Patrick Murphy pushed the Grizzlies ahead a strike at the 14:13 mark of the opening period.
Nathan King stretched a pass from his own zone off the left wing boards that Murphy raced onto and skated to the left circle before getting a shot past the glove side of Warriors netminder Rorke Applebee to give Victoria a 1-0 lead after being outshot by a 7-5 margin in the period.
After a strong stretch inside of the offensive zone with some strong saves from Oliver Auyeung-Ashton, the Grizzlies worked back the other way and extended their lead to a pair of goals as Cam Smith doubled his team’s lead. Smith whacked in a loose puck on a scramble at the side of the net that flipped over the glove of Applebee at the 7:46 mark of the middle frame as Victoria jumped ahead by a 2-0 score.
West Kelowna continued to put a strong press on as the game went along and eventually cracked open with their first marker of the contest courtesy of Michael Salandra. Salandra dragged the puck in the right face-off circle before snapping a shot over the glove side shoulder of Auyeung-Ashton for his 6th goal of the season with just over three minutes remaining to get the Warriors within a marker.
Goals came in quick succession to start the final period of play as the Grizzlies extended their lead to two goals once more with Oliver Genest pushing Victoria ahead by a 3-1 margin just 25 seconds into the 3rd period on a rebound shot past Applebee before the Warriors climbed within a goal 58 seconds later.
Landen Hilditch kept the puck on the right wing half boards before bumping it to Jackson Kyrkostas who turned and spun a backhand shot through the legs of Auyeung-Ashton for his 5th marker of the season just 1:23 into the 3rd period to give the Warriors life and make it a 3-2 game.
Outshooting Victoria by an 11-6 margin in the final period, West Kelowna got a late power play and pulled their netminder with just under three minutes remaining in the game but could not find the equalizing goal as the Grizzlies hung on for a 3-2 victory.
FINAL SCORE: 3-2 Grizzlies
SHOTS ON GOAL: 25-16 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/2
WARRIORS PK: 1/1
3 STARS:
1) Oliver Auyeung-Ashton (23 saves on 25 shots)
2) Nathan King (0-2-2)
3) Michael Salandra (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Trey Ausmus (0-0-0)
The Warriors (8-3-1-0) hit the road once more for a Saturday night matchup against the Cranbrook Bucks (3-7-1-0) in the East Kootenays. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM PST with the game broadcasting live on AM 1150 as well as streamed live on FloHockey.