The West Kelowna Warriors used three third period goals to spark a come-from-behind victory over the Langley Rivermen, earning a 4-2 triumph at the BCHL Showcase at the Kraken Community Iceplex in Seattle, Washington.
The Rivermen scored twice in just under two minutes throughout the halfway point of the opening period beginning with Tyler Chan opening the scoring at the 10:44 mark of the 1st period. Morgan Brady put a shot on from the top of the right face-off circle that Warriors netminder Justin Katz turned aside with the rebound being shoved in by Chan for the 1-0 Langley lead.
1:29 later, Brendan Dunphy extended the Rivermen lead to 2-0 with a shot from the left wing boards that found its way through traffic and snuck past the glove side of Katz to make it a 2-0 Langley advantage after the designated home team in the Rivermen outshot West Kelowna by a 14-10 margin in the opening 20 minutes.
The game was a bit sluggish at times with both teams playing an unusual start time of 4:00 PM but the Warriors got some late life in the 2nd period as Trent Wilson cut the deficit to a goal with his 4th goal of the season.
Eliot Compton made a strong drop pass as he entered the offensive zone on the left wing as Wilson walked into a shot and zipped the puck over the left shoulder of Rivermen netminder Charlie Tritt at the 17:26 mark of the 2nd frame that got the Warriors on the scoresheet heading into the 3rd period.
The third period saw the Warriors race to come back in the game and began with Felix Caron scoring his 7th goal of the season to get the game on even terms. Caron worked his way down the left wing side and got around a Langley defender to move in alone and slipped a shot over the glove side of Tritt for his team-leadinhg 7th marker of the season and levelled the game at 2-2.
West Kelowna built on that momentum on got their first lead of the game at the 14:51 mark of the final period as Isaiah Norlin pushed the Warriors to a lead. Norlin took a shot from the right face-off circle that Tritt made a save on before he collected his own rebound and threw the puck off of him and in for his 3rd goal of the season and gave the Warriors a 3-2 advantage.
The Warriors killed off a big penalty at the tail end of regulation before Jack Pridham found the back of the empty net from centre ice for his 6th goal of the season at the 17:53 mark of the 3rd period to clinch a 4-2 win.
Justin Katz made his first appearance in net since February 20th and made 25 saves on 27 shots in his 1st win of the season while Charlie Tritt made 29 saves on 32 shots in his 3rd loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-2 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 33-27 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/2
WARRIORS PK: 2/2
3 STARS:
1) Felix Caron (1-1-2)
2) Aaron Reierson (0-0-0)
3) Charlie Tritt (29 saves on 32 shots)
The Warriors (8-2-1-0) will conclude their BCHL Showcase in Seattle with a matchup against the Victoria Grizzlies (8-2-0-0) on Tuesday afternoon from the Kraken Community Iceplex. Puck drop is slated for 1:50 PM with the game broadcasted on AM 1150 as well as streamed live on FloHockey.