Photo Credit: Tami Quan Photography

The West Kelowna Warriors get off to a great start but fall apart in the second and third periods leading to a 7-3 Penticton Vees victory Friday night.

It was a great opening period for the Warriors with lots of scoring opportunities and solid pressure inside the Vees zone. With over five minutes remaining the Warriors would score their first of the night after John Evans fired a shot on Kaeden Lane allowing Carter Wilkie to fire a rebound in to make it 1-0 heading into the dressing room.

The Warriors got some bad news in the second period before it began. Goaltender Johnny Derrick and blue liner Charles Alexis Legault left the game with injury deflating the Warriors bench. The Vees would go on the attack, score a pair of quick goals to take a 2-1 lead then controversy. The Warriors #27 Elan Bar Lev Wise would get called for holding but the official told #17 Wyllum Deveaux to go to the penalty box instead. The confusion upset the Warriors bench including Deveaux who ended being tossed out of the hockey game. This is where the game self-destructed. The Vees would score 3 more goals to make it 6-2.

In the third the game started to get out of hand. The Warriors made it interesting getting a pair of goals from Matt Stienburg but the ejections started to pile up for the Warriors. Stienburg, Evans, Brooks and more were ejected out of the hockey game leaving a very empty Warriors bench for the remaining 8 minutes of the game. The Vees would skate off with a 7-3 victory with the Warriors asking the question of who’s healthy enough to play Saturday night in Penticton.