West Kelowna, BC — The Brooks Bandits fell just short in a fast-paced battle on Friday night, dropping a 5–3 decision to the West Kelowna Warriors in a game that was tightly contested from start to finish including five goals in a wild opening period.
Natan Ethier struck first for the Warriors at 10:03 of the first, netting his first of three on the night. The Bandits responded quickly, as Nico Addy buried his long-awaited first BCHL goal at 14:30 to even the score. West Kelowna regained the lead just two minutes later on Ian Crowley’s tally at 16:05, before Alexei Zhukov answered at 17:22 to tie it once again. Zhukov’s goal was his team-leading seventh of the season, including four on the power play, and extended his modified point streak to every full game he’s played this year.
With just five seconds remaining in the opening frame, Ethier struck again to restore the Warriors’ one-goal advantage heading into intermission at 3–2.
The scoring pace slowed in the second half of the game, with just three more goals scored. Jack Good notched his first of the night at 11:08 of the second to tie things up once more, but Natan Ethier posted the game winning goal on a breakaway on goaltender Zach Zahara in the third. Crowley sealed the win for West Kelowna with an empty-netter at 19:19 of the third.
Good finished with a goal and an assist, earning third star honours, while the Bandits showed resilience in battling back from three separate one-goal deficits.
Brooks won’t have to wait long for redemption; the two teams meet again tomorrow night at Royal LePage Place, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. PT.
