Warriors beat Langley

The West Kelowna Warriors jumped back into the win column with a 4-3 victory over the Langley Rivermen on Tuesday night in front of 600 fans at Royal LePage Place.

The Warriors once again got off to a hot start, dominating play in the first 10 minutes of the game.

Rivermen goaltender Braeden Fleming made numerous saves but couldn’t stop Bennett Norlin, who drew first blood to make it 1-0. This was a new top line that the Warriors were forced to make with Parm Dhaliwal still out with injury and Lucas Cullen serving a suspension. Both Norlin and Willie Reim are committed to Air Force next year and show they have chemistry with captain Cavin Tilsley centering the line.

The Rivermen tied the game up late in the opening frame thanks to a Tanner Versluis goal. Shots on goal were even 13-13.

The second period was all offence. The Warriors pounced with a grab bag of scoring chances in the first five minutes and it was Union College commit Mike Hardman who scored not once but twice to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead.

The two-goal advantage was short-lived with Versluis scoring his second of the night for Langley, making it 3-2. Midway through the period, the Warriors regained the two-goal lead thanks to some stellar play from that Air Forcedriven line. It all started with Lucas Bahn keeping the puck in the attacking zone and instead of throwing the puck deep Bahn made a nifty move stickhandling around a Rivermen forward allowing for Norlin to receive the pass deep in the corner. Norlin immediately cross iced the puck to a wide open Reim, who made no mistake and it was 4-2 at the end of the second. Shots on goal were 31-24 in favour of Langley after two periods.

The Rivermen closed the gap to one in the third period, when Alec Capstick’s shot from the point was tipped in by Daneel Lategan, but Warriors goalie Brock Baier held the fort with 39 saves to get the win.