Warriors, Chiefs deadlock

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

Kyler Hope was a split-second too late on this wraparoun d attempt in overtime.

The West Kelowna Warriors threw everything they had at the Chilliwack Chiefs to earn a valuable second point.

In the end, they had to settle for a 3-3, double-overtime tie in one of the most entertaining games at Royal LePage Place all season long.

Brett Mennear had a pair of goals for the Warriors while Kyler Hope added a goal and two assists. Kristian Blumenschein also had a pair of helpers for the Warriors.

But, it was three glorious chances during the three-on-three second overtime that may come back to haunt the Warriors when all is said and done.

Hope had a corner of the net to shoot at but was split second too late in a wraparound attempt.

Moments later, Rylan Yaremko tapped the puck to Kyle Marino at the edge of a wide-open net. He shoveled the puck just wide..

Chilliwack goaltender Aidan Pelino also robbed Mennear from in close with about two minutes left.

The Warriors had all five shots in the second overtime period and held an 8-1 edge over the course of both overtime periods.

"It  was a pretty tight game the whole way. Five-on-five there weren't a whole lot of chances," said Warriors assistant coach Shea Naka.

The Warriors had an edge five-on-five scoring one of their three goals at even strength. They also scored once shorthanded and on the power-play.

The Chiefs were the better team with the man advantage, scoring all three of their goals with an extra man on the ice.

"Their power-play is deadly. We prepared for that but they did an excellent job.

"And they scored when they had their chances on the power-play. We had a few looks on ours but we didn't score."

Twice, the Warriors held a one-goal lead but twice the Chiefs came back to tie it.

Mennear tied the score at 1-1 converting a two-on-one break with Hope.

Hope himself gave the Warriors their first lead of the game when his one-timer from the left point 13 seconds into a man advantage beat Pelino cleanly.

Mennear again restored the one goal lead when he converted another perfect pass from Hope on a two-on-one, this while the Warriors were shorthanded.

West Kelowna, already down three forwards, lost the services of Quin Foreman in the first period.

He left with what Naka called an upper body injury. Naka expects him to be day-to-day.

Three other forwards, Jared Marino, newly acquired Jake LeBrun and Garrett Forster are all out of the lineup with various ailments.

Mennear and Yaremko both left the game for brief periods of time after taking vicious blows. Both returned.

Liam Blackburn was tossed in the third period when he got into a rare fight with Chief's Linden Hora.

Saturday's game was a physical contest between two of the bigger, more physical teams in the league.

It also gave the Warriors  taste of playoff-style hockey.

"It's important we start ramping up towards that," said Naka.

"This was a good test...they are a big, physical team. It was a playoff-type game. There wasn't a whole lot of room out there and the score shows that."

The single point, coupled with Salmon Arm's loss in Victoria, moved the Warriors a single point up on the Silverbacks in the battle for second spot in the Interior Division and home ice advantage in a likely first round playoff meeting.

The Silverbacks have two games in hand. They'll make up one of those when they conclude a three game Island Division road trip in Nanaimo Sunday.

The Warriors are back in action when they entertain Trail Tuesday.

Following that, the Warriors begin a stretch of seven straight on the road as they play eight of the final 12 regular season games away from Royal LePage Place.