The West Kelowna Warriors fell in their fourth preseason game of the schedule with a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Penticton Vees on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Matt Kowalski scored his fifth goal of the preseason while Ryan Doolin and Mike Hardman added a goal each but the Vees offence was too much to handle and fired 35 shots on goal while collecting six goals to help them to the preseason victory.
A penalty-filled opening period saw each team head to the power play twice with no luck from either side but the Vees were first to find the score sheet just under nine minutes into the frame as David Silye found daylight through the glove side of Warriors starter Cole Demers from the right face-off circle to give the Vees a 1-0 lead at the 8:51 mark.
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The goaltenders were the stars of the opening period with Jack LaFontaine making a pair of big saves off of Sam Anderson and Max Bulawka in front for seven stops in the period while Cole Demers turned away 11 of the 12 shots he faced in the opening frame, including a shorthanded breakaway stop on Vees forward Ryan Sandelin.
Penticton doubled their lead to 2-0 early in the second period on a Warriors turnover inside their own zone while on the power play as Sandelin centered for Lukas Sillinger, who blasted a one-timer past Demers glove side from the right circle to give the Vees a two-goal lead at the 3:13 mark of the middle stanza.
The Warriors were quick to respond, however, as just 36 seconds after the shorthanded marker, Ryan Doolin smacked an end wall bounce past LaFontaine off a Jake Harrison shot to cut the deficit to a goal, scoring with just one second remaining on the power play at the 3:49 mark of the second frame.
Jackson Niedermayer, son of NHL defenseman Scott Niedermayer, gave the Vees their two-goal lead back at the 7:58 mark of the period, collecting his own rebound on the glove side of Demers and sliding the puck behind him for the 3-1 Penticton advantage, which would remain after 40 minutes.
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The scoring picked up in the third period as the teams combined for five tallies, beginning with an Vees goal at 6:14 on a wrist shot from the blue line off the stick of Jack Lagerstrom before the Warriors answered with a goal 37 seconds later at 6:51 right off the face-off from Matt Kowalski, good for his fifth goal of the preseason to make it a 4-2 Vees lead.
Luke Loheit gave Penticton their three-goal lead back at 13:04 on the power play as he took a rebound of a Cole Shepard shot and got it past the blocker shoulder of Demers to give the Vees a 5-2 lead in the 3rd period before Ryan Miotto put the Vees ahead by four goals 1:05 later on a turnover in front of the Warriors net.
A gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing play by the Warriors man advantage rounded out the scoring in the game as Chase Dubois spotted Parm Dhaliwal in the left face-off circle before sending a pass to the blocker side of LaFontaine for Mike Hardman to make it a 6-3 game at the 16:07 mark, the eventual final score.
The Warriors will conclude their preseason schedule with a home-and-home set against the Trail Smoke Eaters, beginning at Royal LePage Place on Friday night with a 7 p.m. face-off. Tickets are $10 with children getting in the door for free and are available for purchase at the door ahead of the opening puck drop.
Season tickets are now on sale for the upcoming 2018/2019 season, which is set to begin Friday, Sept. 7 before heading to Royal LePage Place to host the Trail Smoke Eaters in their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 8. Head to the Warriors newly renovated office to check in on ticket details.
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