It was a wild, wacky, weird, yet wonderful night in West Kelowna.
The Smokies came back from a first period deficit of 3-1 and trailed 5-3 after two periods before posting a 6-5 win in overtime.
Captain Ethan Warrener had the biggest night of his career.
The defenseman opened the scoring on a power play shot from the right wing circle just past the two-minute mark, tallied again on a high, short-side backhander later in the opening frame and completed the hat trick with a high wrister from the point on a third period power play. He also assisted on Jason Stefanek’s third period goal that forced overtime.
Coach and GM Tim Fragle called a time-out after the Warriors scored a third unanswered goal, about eight minutes into the first period to take a 3-1 lead. It worked.
Ridge Dawson got his first of two goals less than two minutes later, banking a shot in off the post after Jason Stefanek won the face-off, followed by Warrener’s second goal, less than two minutes after that.
However, West Kelowna regained the lead just shy of the 13-minute mark on their second power play goal of the period.
The Warriors counted the lone goal of the second period to restore a two-goal lead.
Just before Warrener completed the hat-trick, Warriors goalie Rorke Appleby robbed Jason Stefanek on a breakaway. He also made some stellar stops in the second and third periods, while the Smoke Eaters were outshooting the home side 26-13 during the final 40 minutes of regulation.
Appleby got caught out of the net on the tying goal.
The puck took one of the many unusual bounces on the night, right on to the stick of Jason Stefanek, who had a wide open net to score his lucky “13th” goal of the season with about seven minutes to go.
The winner can also be described as, well, different.
Adam Marshall’s shot missed, the bounce off the backboards sent the puck to the short side of the net, where Ridge Dawson was jockeying for position. He got credit for the goal that fluttered over the red line at the 1:54 mark of the extra period.
Trail outshot the Warriors 40-26 and went 2-for-6 on the power play. The Warriors scored on two of their four advantages.
Ryan Parker stopped 21 shots to pick up his 14th win of the season.
The scene now shifts to Salmon Arm for a Saturday night showdown against the Silverbacks.
They are coming off a 5-2 FriDAY night win in Merritt, ending the Centennials four game win streak and purged back-to-back losses last weekend against Merritt.
It’s a 6 p.m. start at the Shaw Centre. The game can be watched on Flohockey and heard on Mixlr.
