The West Kelowna Warriors storm back and defeat the Cowichan Valley Capitals 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night.
The game didn’t start well yet again for the Warriors taking a penalty early. During the Capitals power play Dmitri Mikrogiannakis would cross ice a pass to Will Arquiett beating Johnny Derrick to make it 1-0 Capitals. At the midway point of the first the Warriors D core would get caught pinching in the attacking zone allowing the Caps to go on a 2 on 1 where Brady Lynn would score his 14th of the year to give the Capitals and early 2-0 lead. The Warriors would get a couple quality scoring chances but Caps goaltender Ben Howard stood tall to keep it at 2-0 heading into the 2nd period.
The Warriors started the second period on the man advantage but were unable to find the open cage with Borgiel making another huge stop. The Capitals would go back on the attack with a couple quality chances but Johnny Derrick was there to keep it a 2-0 Capitals lead. The Warriors picked up their play in the second half of the period with John Evans skating around 3 Capitals defenders and scoring what could be a goal of the year candidate for the Warriors to make it 2-1. In the final minute of play the Warriors would pin the Capitals in the attacking zone where Carter Wilkie would fire a puck near the crease. The puck would go off a Capitals defender and right to Deegan Mofford who scores his 7th of the season tying the game up at 2 with only 27 seconds remaining in the third.
The Warriors got some opportunities to tie it up in the third period but Ben Howard was able to stand tall with a couple clutch stops forcing overtime. During the extra frame the Capitals maintained possession for almost the entire 5 minutes but Johnny Derrick remained solid forcing a shootout. During the shootout John Evans would open things up with a first round goal. When the Capitals missed their first two opportunities the Warriors Tyler Cristall finished things off with a beautiful move to end the game and give the Warriors a clutch two points.
Final shots on goal: 31-29 in favor of the Warriors.
Three Stars:
- WKW F John Evans (1G)
- COW D Dimitri Mikrogiannakis (1A)
- WKW D Nick Ardanaz (1A)