Warriors rally, but lose in OT

Merritt heads home with 2-0 series lead

The West Kelowna Warriors overcame a 4-0 deficit to force overtime, but still fell into a 2-0 series hole with Saturday’s 5-4 triple-OT loss to the visiting Merritt Centennials at Royal LePage Place.

The 912 fans in attendance got twice their money’s worth, providing they stayed until the end in lieu of the Warriors trailing 4-0 in the third period.

Those who made an early exit missed a thrilling comeback that fell short when Stephan Seeger pounced on a rebound at 3:07 of the third overtime period to give the Centennials a commanding lead as the series shifts to Merritt for Games 3 and 4 tonight and Tuesday.

Saturday’s game played out much like Friday’s opener — which Merritt won 6-5 in regulation — as the Centennials again jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half of the first period.

Merritt made it 3-0 late in the second period and 4-0 early in the third period before West Kelowna rallied in dramatic fashion.

Just 16 seconds after Brett Jewell netted the Cents’ second power-play goal of the game, Parm Dhaliwal followed up his own rebound off the rush to get the Warriors on the board at 2:55 of the third period.

Quin Foreman, with his third goal of the series, cut the deficit to 4-2 at 10:04, and defenceman Jake Harrison made it a one-goal game just one minute 21 seconds later with 8:35 remaining in regulation.

West Kelowna had all the momentum at that point and got another boost when Merritt’s Tyrell Buckley took a major penalty for checking from behind.

Chase Dubois capitalized on that five-minute power play at 13:05, and the Warriors survived a late penalty kill of their own to get into overtime.

The two scoreless extra periods saw Merritt outshoot West Kelowna 7-4 in the first, while the Warriors held a 15-10 edge in the second.

Merritt scored on its fourth shot of the third overtime — West Kelowna had managed only one — but the Warriors finished with a 67-46 advantage overall, including that dominant 20-5 third period.

Jacob Berger made 63 saves for Merritt, while Cole Demers stopped 41 shots for West Kelowna.

If necessary, Game 5 would be back at Royal LePage Place on Thursday at 7 p.m.