Wednesday 7 October 2015

Coquitlam 3 - Warriors 2 - OT

The West Kelowna Warriors fell in overtime to Charlie Barrow and the Coquitlam Express last night at Royal Lepage Place.

Barrow scored the tying and winning goals in the hockey game, beating Stephen Heslop 35 seconds into overtime with a shot off the post.

The Warriors allowed the 1st goal of the game for the 6th time this season, as Colton Kerfoot found space above Heslop's shoulder in the 1st period.

West Kelowna scored a pair of goals in the middle frame, as Garrett Forster tied the game at 1, before Quin Foreman made it 2-1 with his 1st BCHL goal.

Rough stuff occurred late in the 2nd period, as Jake Harrison's helmet went flying after a high hit in the corner from Jack Surowiec. Harrison, who did not return, was already engaged on the end boards with a member of the Express when Surowiec laid his check.  Rylan Yaremko took exception, dropping the gloves with Surowiec in a spirited tilt.

Yaremko would get the instigator, while Surowiec was given 2 for a blow to the head, along with fighting majors, misconducts, and game misconducts.

At the same time, Austin McIlmurray was ejected for Abuse of Officials, a call that was made either after a physical or verbal altercation with an official, which I didn't see where that happened, or what went on. Luckily for McIlmurray, it was only a Game Misconduct and not a Gross.

Barrow scored halfway through the 3rd period to tie the game, which sent the game to overtime for the first time this season for West Kelowna. The Warriors out-shot the Express 33-29.

Game Thoughts:

  • The line of Lane Gilliss, Quin Foreman, and Reed Gunville was the best line for the Warriors, as pointed out by Shae Naka following the game. Foreman got his first in the BCHL, while Gunville had a pair of opportunities for his 1st as well.  This trio saw a regular shift throughout, and were on the ice with 1:23 remaining in a tie hockey game. Talk about a confidence boost.
  • Rylan Yaremko stood up for his 16-year-old teammate Jake Harrison after the 2nd period hit knocked him out of the game. Ideally, you want to make the other team pay while you're on the power play, but Yaremko felt he needed to take matters into his own fists.  It was a situation that was warranted from the contact at first glance, as Harrison's helmet went flying. Pretty sure he didn't even know Jack Surowiec was coming when he was battling on the end wall. Watching it back on video, the angle makes it tough to see what contacted Harrison's head, but that's up to the league to look at now. Hopefully he's okay for this weekend's big games.
  • Once again the Warriors had a dominant 2nd period, scoring both goals and out-shooting Coquitlam 19-5 in the frame. Through 9 games, the Warriors have out-shot their opponents 133-69 in the 2nd period.
  • You have to think it was a missed opportunity for the Warriors when they couldn't score on Lawson Fenton when he entered the game after Tyger Howat went down with an injury. Give Fenton credit though, he made a couple solid saves, plus his defense definitely got into the lane a lot more once he came in. 17 saves in relief gets him his first BCHL win.
The Warriors have a pair of big hockey games to prepare for this weekend, as they take on the #5 and #20 ranked teams in Canada, and the other 2 teams that went 2-0 at the BCHL Showcase (WK and Wenatchee the others).
Friday night the Warriors visit the SOEC for another round of the division rivalry with the Penticton Vees. Saturday, they return home to take on the Powell River Kings, who are in Coquitlam Friday night.

Catch all the action both nights on WIN or Fast Hockey, with the pre-game shows at 6:45 Friday, and 6:40 on Saturday night.

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