The West Kelowna Warriors survived a penalty filled contest and got two goals from Chase Dubois in a 5-2 victory over the Langley Rivermen in BCHL action Tuesday night at Royal LePage Place.
The first period didn’t see a goal for either team as the goaltenders were the stars of the opening frame with Warriors netminder Nik Amundrud turning aside 12 of the shots he faced in the frame while Rivermen goaltender Braedon Fleming stopped all 11 shots thrown his way.
The scoring got going in the 2nd period with a goal at the 9:30 mark of the middle stanza as Langley got on the board first. At the tail end of a power play, Jake Livingstone cut through the neutral zone and threw a shot on goal from inside the blue line, getting through Amundrud and giving Langley a 1-0 lead.
The Warriors tied the game moments later at the 14:48 mark of the 2nd period as on a goal mouth scramble. The puck was put to the front of the net by Wyatt Head with RJ Murphy standing in front and banged home a rebound for his 5th goal of the season and tying the game at one.
Just as they did on Sunday afternoon, the Warriors scored in quick succession as 48 seconds after the Murphy marker, Nathan Reilly sent Chase Dubois in alone on a breakaway. Dubois deked forehand to backhand and beat Fleming up and over the blocker for his 3rd goal of the season and a 2-1 Warriors advantage.
The Warriors opened the scoring in the 3rd period and got their first two-goal lead of the game at the 3:58 mark with Bennett Norlin chipping the puck into the offensive zone and centering from behind the goal line. Cavin Tilsley touched the puck for Jared Marino at the top of the crease as he roofed a shot over Fleming for his 6th goal of the season and giving West Kelowna a 3-1 lead.
Langley cut the deficit in half at the 9:11 mark of the 3rd frame on a strange bouncing puck that found it’s way behind Amundrud. An Angus Crookshank shot from the right face-off circle that hit a body in front and was knocked in by Brendan Budy decrease the Warriors lead to 3-2.
Chase Dubois added his second goal of the game at the 18:59 mark of the 3rd period as Michael Ryan fed Dubois a pass on the right wing and the Warrior forward found the back of the empty net from centre ice for his second goal of the game and extending the Warrior lead to 4-2.
Peter Tomaras got on the scoresheet as well with an empty net goal of his own at the 19:33 mark of the 3rd period as he sped by a Langley defender and scored his 3rd goal of the season and secured a 5-2 Warriors victory.
Nik Amundrud was steady in the Warriors crease, turning aside 22 of the 24 shots he faced in the game for his 6th win of the season while Braedon Fleming was busy, making 41 saves on 44 shots in his 7th loss of the season.
The Warriors (10-4-0-0) finish off their four-game home stand when they host the Cowichan Valley Capitals (1-9-0-2) at Royal LePage Place on Saturday night.