Homegrown Brett Mennear scored a highlight-reel first-period goal and added an assist as the West Kelowna Warriors edged the visiting Langley Rivermen 3-2 in a B.C. Hockey League play on Saturday.
Mennear, a West Kelowna Minor Hockey Association graduate, beat two Langley defenders and then put a backhander high into the net behind the Rivermen’s Bo Didur at 11:31 of the opening period to get the 945 fans at Royal LePage Place into the game.
Following a Matty Saharchuk marker for Langley early in the second period, Scott Allen (assisted by Mennear) restored the Warriors’ one-goal lead. Quin Foreman notched the winner at 18:26 of the middle frame with a one-timer from the circle off a Rylan Yaremko pass.
Langley got back to within one in the third period, but Matthew Greenfield, who made 36 saves on the night, shut the door with several tough stops, the biggest coming while the Warriors were playing shorthanded.
The win, coming on the heels of a 5-2 loss to the first-place Penticton Vees on Friday in Penticton (following a seven-game Warriors winning streak) kept West Kelowna five points up on the third-place Salmon Arm Silverbacks in the Interior Division.
The Silverbacks still have two games in hand on the Warriors, who have four games remaining in the regular season.
Up next for the Warriors is a game on Tuesday in a rare 11 a.m. start at Royal LePage Place against the Vernon Vipers. About 1,200 students are expected to be in attendance as part of the BCHL’s anti-bullying awareness campaign.
The Warriors, who wore anti-bullying jerseys on Saturday, will also play on Wednesday in Vernon beginning at 11 a.m.
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