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West Kelowna Warriors complete comeback in Prince George

Tyler Cristall was the hero in the shootout
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Tyler Cristall scores the shootout winner in Prince George (Chuck Chin Photography)

The West Kelowna Warriors came from behind to earn their 27th win of the season last night in Prince George.

Despite being outshot 14-4 in the first period, the Warriors were up 1-0 from a Felix Trudeau power-play goal. It was his team-leading 26th of the season, returning to the lineup after serving a two-game suspension.

The Prince George Spruce Kings bounced back with a big second period, scoring three goals on just seven shots. Rowan Miller scored a powerplay goal to tie the game at the 10:41 mark. Just 45 seconds later, Josh Wright found the net to give the Spruce Kings a 2-1 lead.

Late in the period, Ty Gagno made it a two-goal lead, scoring his eighth of the season.

At the 9:10 mark of the third period, Nick Roukounakis scored his seventh of the season for the Warriors to make it a one-goal game.

Some late-game heroics is what the Warriors needed, and received from Tyler Rubin as he scored his sixth of the year on the powerplay to tie the game at three with under two minutes to go.

Prince George had only three shots in the third period.

Despite outshooting Prince George 4-0 in overtime, the game headed to a shootout.

Prince George was up in the shootout before Warriors’ Chase DeFoe found the back of the net to force a fourth shootout round. That was where Tyler Cristall was the hero for the Warriors, beating goaltender Aaron Trotter and giving West Kelowna the victory.

Warriors goaltender Johnny Derrick stopped 21 of 24 shots to earn the win.

West Kelowna outshot Prince George 35-24. They finish February with a 5-2-1-0 record.

Despite having more wins, West Kelowna still sits five points back of Prince George.

PG - 25-10-3-7, 60 points; West K - 27-15-1-0, 55 points. Both teams have clinched a playoff spot with a month left to go in the season.

The Warriors are next in action on Wednesday, March 2 in Wenatchee against the Wild. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. at the Town Toyota Centre.

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Jordy Cunningham

About the Author: Jordy Cunningham

Hailing from Ladner, B.C., I have been passionate about sports, especially baseball, since I was young. In 2018, I graduated from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops with a Bachelor of Journalism degree
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