Warriors on brink of elimination
The West Kelowna Warriors were Àghting for their playoff lives Tuesday night as they faced elimination in their BC Hockey League playoff series with the Trail Smoke Eaters.
The game took place at Royal LePage Place after deadline for this issue of the Westside Weekly.
The Warriors went into the game trailing the Smoke Eaters 3-0 in their Àrst-round playoff series.
West Kelowna lost 4-0 at home on Monday after a 6-5 overtime loss in Trail on Friday and a 7-2 loss Saturday at the Cominco Arena.
Monday’s game wasn’t as lopsided as the score made it appear, but the Warriors were unable to get the break they needed in the Àrst half of the game to grab some momentum.
Trail scored the only goal of a back-and-forth Àrst period as defenceman Troy Ring’s shot bounced off a body in front of the net and went past Nik Amundrud.
Jared Marino put one through the legs of Trail goalie Adam Marcoux in the second period, but the puck then slid wide of the net. Shortly after, Trail scored on a power play to take a 2-0 lead.
The Smoke Eaters increased their lead to 3-0 in the third period, then added an empty netter to put the game away.
Amundrud stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced in the game while Marcoux earned his Àrst shutout of the postseason, making 30 saves in front of 813 spectators.
Game 1 - Trail 6 West Kelowna 5 (OT)
The Warriors scored four goals on the power play but it was not enough as Kale Howarth ended the game in overtime.†
The Warriors led 3-1 after the Àrst period with Chase Dubois scoring twice on the power play and Jared Marino once with the man advantage.
Trail responded with a ferocious attack in the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead, but once again, a penalty changed the momentum as the home team took a Àve-minutes major and Ryan Steele scored twice on the power-play to even the score at 5.
The Smoke Eaters dominated the third period, outshooting the visitors 24-3, but neither team was able to score. Many of the Trail shots came the outside and were handled easily by Amundrud, who made 49 saves on the night.
Just over Àve minutes into the overtime, Howarth moved into the zone on the right-wing side and let go of a wicked wrist shot from the top of the right circle that deÁected off the post and into the net to give the Smoke Eaters the win.
Game 2 – Trail 7 West Kelowna 2
The Smoke Eaters led 3-0 after two and raised their lead to 6-0 early in the third period before West Kelowna got on the scoreboard.
Willie Reim broke Adam Marcoux’s shutout bid at the 9:07 mark of the Ànal period as the Warriors converted on the power play.
The home team added another before Michael Lombardi closed out the scoring at the 18:39 mark of the third period.
Amundrud had another busy night in net, stopping 38 shots.
If the Warriors did win last night, Game 5 will be Thursday in Trail. Game 6 would be Saturday in West Kelowna and Game 7 Sunday in Trail. All start times are set for 7 p.m.