West Kelowna hold off furious comeback, edge Trail 5-4

Warriors avert collapse

Photo: Wayne Moore

Warriors hold off Trail 5-4 Saturday

The West Kelowna Warriors remain undefeated in regulation time when they pay tribute to their neighbours to the south.

Becoming the Peachland Warriors for one night, the home side held on for a thrilling 5-4 win over the Trail Smoke Eaters before a sellout crowd of nearly 1,400 at Royal LePage Place.

Their record is now 4-0-1-0 when donning the peach coloured jersey.

Thrilling that is for the fans - not so much for the coaching staff.

The Warriors built up a 5-1 lead before the second period was a minute old, but the Smoke Eaters battled back to within a goal before Bor Glavic shut the door over the final 13 minutes.

“Never critique a win as an old coach once said,” said Warriors head coach Simon Ferguson.

“Forty minutes of hockey and 20 minutes of playing for ourselves, the names on the back, not the logo on the front.

It’s hard when you get up because the tendency is, ‘OK, now I can do my thing and score goals,’ but what it does is lead them to getting chances.”

Trail opened the scoring just 58 seconds into the game, but it was all Warriors for much of the rest of the opening period.

Noah Garthe on a one-timer from the right circle on a power play tied it before Max Dinneen put the Warriors up on a gorgeous deke to the backhand from in tight.

Before the period was out, Ruslan Jamaldinov made it 3-1 on a similar backhand deke off a superb pass from Ian Alonso who drew the defenceman to him before spotting Jamaldinov at the edge of the Smoke Eaters crease.

The Warriors made it 5-1 before many of the sold out crowd made it back to their seats for the second period.

Natan Ethier on a rebound scored just 15 second into the second and, on another power play, Olivier Chan wired a wrist shot past starter Lyam Leblanc just 58 seconds in.

That spelled the end of the night for Leblanc, who was replaced by Chayse Johnson.

Johnson held the Warrior off the scoresheet the rest of the night and seemed to spark the Smoke Eaters, who turned the tide for much of the rest of the second and the first eight or nine minutes of the third.

Max Hense from the right circle on a shot that squeezed through Glavic’s pads and newcomer David Greene with a deflection off a point shot on a Trail power play made it 5-3 after two.

Ted Welander brought the visitors to within one on another power play 7:11 into the third when his point shot deflected off a Warriors stick and knuckled into the net.

The Smoke Eaters crashed the net around Glavic a couple of times late but were unable to find the equalizer.

Alexandre Lallier and Dylan Krayer each had three assists in the win for the Warriors who avenged Friday’s 6-4 loss in Trail, and in doing so, re-established their 12 point lead atop the Interior West Division.

The Warriors are off until Friday when they travel to Cranbrook to face the Bucks Friday. They host the same Bucks for a Family Day matinee 2:30, Monday, Feb. 16.