On the first night of their season Saturday in West Kelowna, the Warriors came out to play.
Fed by a two-goal effort from Felix Trudeau, the West Kelowna Warriors filled up on home-cooking and handed the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings their first loss of the B.C. Hockey League season.
Trudeau’s second goal of the game tied the game 2-2 in second period. That touched off a four-goal flurry and the Warriors waltzed to a 5-3 victory.
Chase Dafoe gave West Kelowna the lead midway through the game. The Warriors continued to pour on the pressure in the third period and Nick Roukounakis and Tyler Rubin each found the net behind goalie Aaron Trotter. Elan Bar Lev Wise contributed two assists.
John Herrington scored two goals to lead the King’ cause, his team-leading third and fourth of the season. Austin Fraser added a power-play goal late in the game, his first as a Spruce King since joining the team over the summer from the Coquitlam Express.
West Kelowna outshot the Spruce Kings ?38-19
Kings’ right winger Nick Rheaume left the game with an injury right after Roukounakis scored to make it a 4-2 game, 55 seconds into the third period.
The Kings went 1-for-3 on the power play. West Kelowna was scoreless in two man-advantage situations.
The Kings started their weekend trip with an 8-1 win over the Merritt Centennials Friday in Merritt.
The Cents will be in Prince George for a weekend set Friday and Saturday, the first meaningful games in front of live audience at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena since March 2020. Just 875 tickets will be sold for each game, with teams limited to half-capacity due to pandemic rules put in place by the provincial health office.
