Warriors earn split on three game trip

Photo: Contributed - Don Richmond

The West Kelowna Warriors dropped an overtime barnburner in Alberni Valley on Sunday in the dramatic finale of a three-game coastal road swing.

After a hard-fought 2-1 defeat in Chilliwack and a 6-2 victory in Powell River, the Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes in Port Alberni.

However the Bulldogs would fight back with three goals of their own in the second period, including the equalizer right as the frame expired. 

Josh Monk’s second of the game gave the Warriors a 4-3 lead midway through the third, but Manny Gialedakis squared the game 4-4 just 22 seconds later.

Chase Paylor then netter the OT winner when he jammed a loose puck past Steven Myland 3:28 into the first extra frame. 

Marcus Basara scored the first Warriors goal 52 seconds into the game.  Max French also scored, with Monk’s pair rounding out the West Kelowna offence.  Seb Lloyd notched two assists in the loss, and was named the game’s second star.

Hunter Stewart (2), Paylor (2), and Gialedakis tallied for Alberni Valley.  Stewart was named the first star, with Gialedakis ranked #3. 

“The first 20 we were happy with, the rest we weren’t really happy with” Warriors forward Ambrose Firkus admitted afterwards. 

“We felt like we let off a little bit and let them come to us, and that’s not what we need to do to win” he concluded. 

Still,the Warriors end up earning three of a possible six points on the road trip – an outcome Firkus says is acceptable.

“We’ll take that” he smiled.  “It would have been nice to get a few more points but we’ll take half the points, anyway”

The Warriors remain five points back of second-place Merritt and 12 points ahead of fourth-place Salmon Arm in the Interior Conference.

West Kelowna has seven games remaining in the regular season.  The next action for the Tribe is a big divisional matchup in Merritt on Feb. 23rd.