The West Kelowna Warriors were held off the scoresheet for 40 minutes on Tuesday, but made up for the drought with four goals in the third period of a 4-1 B.C. Hockey League victory over the Vernon Vipers.
Playing in front of about 1,700 fans at Royal LePage Place, the host Warriors gave up a goal to the Ben Butcher at 7:40 of the first period to give the Vipers a 1-0 lead that would stand up until Jonathan Desbiens’ club record-tying goal 44 seconds into the third period.
It was his 41st goal of the season, matching the mark set by Trevor Bailey in 2010, and it came just after Desbiens fell hard into the boards. He then got to his own rebound and made a nifty move to beat Andrew Shortridge in the Vipers’ net.
Reed Gunville scored the winning goal at 14:19 of the third, one-timing a loose puck from the slot.
Two empty-net goals by the Warriors led to some stick work in the game that featured anti-bullying awareness. West Kelowna’s Brett Mennear took a high stick after Garrett Forster made it 3-1, while Quin Foreman was slashed after scoring a second empty-netter.
Meanwhile, Matthew Greenfield earned the win in goal, stopping 27 of 28 Vernon shots.
The win moved the Warriors closer to clinching second place and home-ice advantage in the first round of the Interior Division playoffs. With three games left, the Warriors are seven points up on the third-place Salmon Arm Silverbacks, who have five games remaining.
Up next for the Warriors is another mid-day encounter with the Vipers, this time in Vernon on Wednesday beginning at 11 a.m. The two teams will meet again on Friday at Royal LePage Place starting at 7 p.m.
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