Warriors explode for six early goals to win fifth straight

Six goals in the first 16 minutes and a standout performance by goaltender Brock Baier parlayed into a fifth straight B.C. Hockey League win for the West Kelowna Warriors today at Royal LePage Place.

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Chase Dubois scored once and assisted on three goals before the game was 10 minutes old as the Warriors stunned the rallying Cowichan Valley Capitals 7-2.

But while the hosts took control early, a gritty Caps team, playing its third game in as many days in the Okanagan, fired 38 shots at Baier, but managed only the two goals on the Wallace, Ont. product and couldn’t score on eight powerplay opportunities. The Warriors struck on two of their five power plays.

Kelowna’s Lucas Cullen opened the floodgates at 1:57 into the game while Parm Dhaliwal made it 2-0 less than two minutes later. Garrett Ewart, with his first goal of the season, Willie Reim with his 17th and Mike Hardman with his team-leading 26th, followed up on Dubois’ 15th of the season in the opening frame.

After a scoreless second period in which Cowichan outshot the Warriors 15-6, Jordan Robert broke Baier’s shutout bid with a shorthanded goal at 6:24 of the third while Kolton Cousins notched the second Caps goal at 12:01. Max Bulawka sandwiched his eighth of the season in between the two Cowichan markers.

Improving to 22-14-0-1, the Warriors are tied with the Penticton Vees for second place in the Interior Division of the BCHL, although they have played two more games. The Wenatchee Wild lead the division with 46 points and have three games in hand on the Warriors.

Up next for the Warriors is a showdown with Vees at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton on Friday while they’ll play host to the Vees on Dec. 22 before taking a Christmas break that will extend to Jan. 4 when they travel to Vernon to take on Vipers.

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