Special teams hurt Warriors

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

Connor Sodergren drives the net during the first period of Tuesday's 5-1 loss.

Special teams were the downfall of the West Kelowna Warriors at the start of a five-game homestand at Royal LePage Place.

The Warriors surrendered four power-play goals in a 5-1 setback at the hands of the Merritt Centennials Tuesday.

West Kelowna dominated the opening period, but could only manage to come away deadlocked at 1-1.

Then, early in the second period, back-to-back penalties put the Tribe down two men. It would prove to be the turning point of the game.

Merritt struck twice in a 22 second span with the man advantage, taking a 3-1 lead they would never appear in jeopardy of surrendering.

Two more in the third salted it away.

The Warriors had their chances with the man advantage, but could only bury one of their eight chances.

"That just comes down to not being good enough in the areas of the ice you need to be," said assistant coach Shea Naka.

"They score two power-play goals on loose pucks in the slot, and that should be unacceptable here. And we didn't score on loose pucks on our power-play. That's kind of what it boiled down to at the end of the day."

Connor Sodergren scored the lone Warrior goal, tapping home a perfect back-door feed from rookie Parm Dhaliwal late in the opening frame.

The Warriors outshot Merritt 16-7 in that period but Jacob Berger was solid for the Centennials in goal.

The loss snapped the Warriors three-game winning streak while the Centennials ended their two-game skid.

The Warriors will be back at it again Friday night when they entertain the Penticton Vees for the first time this season.