Warriors Cotton OT hero

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet File Photo

Jason Cotton was the overtime hero as the Warriors edged Penticton 4-3 Tuesday.

The West Kelowna Warriors have drawn first blood in their best-of-seven BCHL Interior Division semi-final series with the Penticton Vees.

Cotton converted a rebound from the slot at 5:39 of double overtime Tuesday to give the Warriors a come-from-behind 4-3 win at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

The goal came with Vees forward Demico Hannoun in the box for kneeing. It was the Warriors lone power-play chance of the night and they made it count.

Kelowna native Tyson Jost opened the scoring for the Vees with an unassisted marker just seven minutes into the contest.

Josh Bly tied it two minutes later then Brayden Gelsinger gave the Warriors their first lead of the night at 17:19 of the first.

That lead lasted only a couple of minutes when Hannoun tied it in the final minute.

Penticton's Lewis Zerter - Gossage scored the lone goal of the second while Kristian Blumenschein of the Warriors got the lone marker of the third just 6:01 in forcing overtime.

The goaltenders, Scott Patton of the Warriors and Hunter Miska of Penticton took over the rest of the way stopping everything thrown their way until Cotton finally ended it after more than 85 minutes of hockey.

Cotton had an assist to go along with his goal while Kyle Marino and captain Andrew Johnson, who returned after missing more than a week due to injury, each chipped in with a pair of assists.

Patton was spectacular for the Warriors stopping 52 of 55 shots fired his way over four plus periods of hockey as the Vees outshot the Warriors 55-38.

The Vees were 0-2 with the man advantage while the Warriors went 1 for 1.

Game two in the series goes Wednesday night back in Penticton before the series shifts to Royal LePage Place for games three and four Friday and Saturday.