WEST KELOWNA – The Blackfalds Bulldogs faced a tough test on Sunday (Jan. 12), falling 3-2 to the West Kelowna Warriors in a hard-fought battle at Royal LePage Place. The sold-out crowd, in attendance for Hockey Day in West K, witnessed a tightly contested match that saw the Warriors ultimately prevail.
Bloomington, Minnesota native and Dartmouth commit Tyler Grahme got the Warriors on the board first at 9:39 of the first period unassisted- The shot eluded netminder Kirill Kapustin who appeared to be screened if not surprised by the quick shot.
The Bulldogs netminder more than made up for the gaffe keeping his team in it with two sensational saves later in the period. He denied Simon Hogue with an outstanding glove grab on a backdoor one-timer, then while laying prone on the ice, robbed Sadowski from in tight. –LINK
On a 5 on 3 Power Play the Bulldogs evened the game up when Gates Omicioli scored at 13:14 of the first period with the assists to Noah Mertz and Joey Melo – The Bulldogs tied it on a five-on-three power play set up when the Warriors bench was assessed a penalty for arguing a too many men on the ice call.
Shots on goal in the first period were 15-8 for the Bulldogs. I am really starting to question these shot counters. Last night I thought they had way more and the other team didn’t have as many. This time I find it hard to believe there was a total of 15 shots between both teams almost.
Huntington Beach, California native and former Camrose Kodiak Ian Alonso scored on the Power Play for the Warriors to make it a 2-1 game at 1:05 of the second period. The assists on the goal went to Jack Sadowski and Sam LeDrew.
Shots on goal in the second period were 14-6 for the Warriors
12 seconds into the third period cage man Tyler Grahame made it 3-1 unassisted on a strange shot.
Jason Davenport buries a pass from Nick DiPaolo to get the Bulldogs within one at 8:01 of the third period with other helper going to Matthew Ronn.
1:39 remaining and Kapustin went to the bench and the Bulldogs came close but it just wasn’t enough.
Amazing game Bulldogs played great. With 4 seconds left and the face off down in the Warriors zone why have a left handed shooter take the draw. You have one chance a righty can fire it on net. A little bit of a pipe dream thinking but may of worked better.
Shots on goal in the third period were 16-8 for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs outshot the Warriors 38-30 in the game
For the Warriors Slovenian Bor Galvic stopped 36 of the 38 shots that he faced for the win. For the Bulldogs Kirill Kapustin 27 of the 30 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game 1) Bor Glavic 2) Tyler Grahme 3) Noah Mertz – The name Bor Glavic sounds so tough and bad ass its awesome.👍
Attendance in West Kelowna was 1506
Bulldogs next game is Saturday January 25th against the Penticton Panthers in Blackfalds
Bad feed problems to start the game. Get the sound but everything else is black. On both feeds the home & Away. Lasted about a minute and a half to start the game of all black.