West Kelowna fell 7-4 in Wenatchee Saturday

Photo: Contributed

Trevor Miller Special to Castanet

The West Kelowna Warriors saw their five-game winning streak come to a close as they fell to the Wenatchee Wild by a 7-4 score on Saturday night at the Town Toyota Center.

There was a lot of energy in the building in Wenatchee as the Wild hosted their Parents Weekend as well as Military Appreciation Night and used that energy to open the scoring just 2:17 into the opening frame with David Hedjuk giving Wenatchee a 1-0 advantage.

The Wild defender took a shot from the left face-off circle that Warriors goaltender Nicholas Cristiano turned away with his left pad but Hedjuk followed up on the play and got to his own rebound in the right circle and shot past the glove side of Cristiano to give the Wild a 1-0 edge on home ice.

Parker Murray had a big opportunity at the glove side for the Wild while shorthanded, making a move and hitting the post in an attempt to give his team a two-goal lead before Noah Jones did it for real with his first career BCHL goal. Jones took a shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and underneath the glove of Cristiano at the 13:48 mark of the opening period to jump ahead by a pair of goals.

Before the period was out, Brennan Nelson gave the Warriors some life into the middle frame with his 6th goal of the season and has registered goals in back-to-back games to cut the deficit in half.

Nelson took a Chris Duclair chip pass on the left wing and cut behind the Wild defense before making his way to the goal, slowing at the blocker side and flipping the puck over the blocker side of Wild goaltender Owen Millward to give the Warriors their first marker of the game with 57 seconds remaining in the opening period to make it a 2-1 game in favour of the Wild into the 2nd period.

The Warriors fought their way back and tied the game at the 8:19 mark of the 2nd period as Chris Duclair and the West Kelowna power play got the game on even terms. Ben MacDonald put a shot to the net from the high slot that was deflected by the stick of Duclair in the right face-off circle for his 5th goal of the season and successfully tied the game at 2-2.

For the first time in a crazy back-and-forth affair, the Warriors took the lead with Luke Devlin earning his 2nd goal of the season. Felix Caron burned his way through a Wild defender on the right wing into the offensive zone with Isaiah Norlin collecting the puck and centering a pass to the front of the net where Devlin flipped a shot over the blocker shoulder of Millward at the 12:37 mark to give West Kelowna their first lead of the game at 3-2.

The Wild had an answer and tied the game once more at the 16:21 mark of the middle period with the first of two 2nd period goals from Ean Somoza. With Wenatchee on the power play, Hedjuk put a shot through traffic that was deflected by Somoza in the high slot to even the score at 3-3.

Somoza was the culprit once again to give Wenatchee the lead at the 18:35 mark of the middle period with his second of the period. Somoza took a Paker Murray pass in the left face-off circle and fanned on a one-time shot but got enough of the puck to flick it over the glove side shoulder of Cristiano and give Wenatchee a one-goal lead heading into the 3rd period.

Parker Murray extended the Wenatchee lead to 5-3 at the 3:36 mark of the 3rd period, taking a pass from the right side and finding time and space in the left face-off circle as he beat Cristiano on the blocker side to push the Wenatchee lead to two goals early in the 3rd period.

Somoza finished off his hat trick at the 6:20 mark of the 3rd period as he got the puck in the right wing circle and shot through the glove side of Cristiano to make it a 6-3 game before David Hedjuk tallied his second goal of the game at the 7:33 mark of the 3rd period to push Wenatchee ahead by a 7-3 score.

Kailus Green finished the scoring in a penalty-filled 3rd period with his 6th goal of the season, capitalizing on a Warriors power play at the front of the net as he tapped in a Jaiden Moriello feed at the blocker side to finish the scoring at 7-4 in favour of Wenatchee.

Nicholas Cristiano turned aside 27 of the 34 shots thrown his way in his 2nd loss of the season while Owen Millward stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced in his 3rd win of the season.

Next up for the Warriors, their first trip to the South Okanagan Events Centre to face the Penticton Vees Friday.

They return home to host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Saturday.