West Kelowna Warriors hammered by Bulldogs

PORT ALBERNI – The West Kelowna Warriors know they’re in a playoff race in the BCHL’s Interior Division, and the opener of a three game road trip was not the start they wanted in a 5-1 loss to Alberni Valley.

It was the Bulldogs who got off to the hot start in the opening frame when Mitch Makin buried his own rebound off the pads of Andy Desautels to open the scoring.

Alberni Valley kept coming, as Taylor Derynck would get his first career goal on a one-time blast from the slot, and Scott Clark with a power move out from behind the goal made it 3-0 just 14 minutes into the first period.

The second period saw the Warriors get some more offensive zone time, and included four straight minutes of power-play time where they generated eight shots but Billy Christopoulos only had 1 difficult save in the bunch.

The Bulldogs added their fourth goal with just less than five minutes to play in the second period, when Clark got his second of the night on a wrap around beating Desautels. The Warriors had out-shot Alberni Valley 12-6 in the period.

The third period would feature a lot of good action both ways and the Warriors hit a crossbar early that could have put them back in it.

West Kelowna turned to the desperation with over six minutes remaining as they pulled Desautels with a power-play and Jason Cotton was able to get the goal.

Right after that goal, Andrew Johnson had a great opportunity but couldn’t finish it, and then the Warriors hit another crossbar, perhaps payback for the two posts hit by the Bulldogs in the 1st period.

Eric Margo would seal the deal with an empty netter.

The Warriors will continue on the trip over to Powell River for another matchup with the Kings. Game time is 7:15 p.m. from the Hap Parker Arena.