Eagles 4 Warriors 3

Luke Sandler buried a rebound 4:28 from the end of the third period to help the Eagles to a 4-3, come-from-behind victory in West Kelowna Friday.

Surrey erased a two-goal deficit in the final ten minutes to pick up their third triumph in four games and start the two-game Interior swing off on a winning note.

The host Warriors came out of the gate flying, outshooting the Eagles 13-2 in the opening frame but were unable to beat Surrey starter Bo Didur. West Kelowna found their opener 7:45 into the second when Reid Simmonds jumped off the bench, snuck down the left side and beat Didur with a backhand shot.

Surrey's special teams were again strong Friday, and it was the power-play that found the equalizer when Jonah Renouf slotted a wrist shot home through traffic at 9:28. But the Eagles would find themselves trailing after fourty minutes when Seb Lloyd found the back of the net after a wild series of events in front of Didur that forced acrobatic saves both from him and defenseman Michael McEachern.

West Kelowna took advantage of a Surrey miscue off the opening faceoff in period three, when Tyson Dallman gobbled up a loose puck at the side of the net, feeding captain Matt Anholt in the slot just 11 seconds into the frame, giving the Warriors a 3-1 lead.

But Surrey remained tenacious in the defensive zone and on the penalty-kill, and saved their best for the final half of period three. The visitors cut the lead to 3-2 at 10:48 when Danton Heinen bashed home a puck that ricocheted to him off the glove of a Warrior defenseman.

Then, minutes later on a power-play, Heinen would strike again, re-directing Kale Bennett's blast from the left point over the shoulder of goaltender Andy Desautels for his second goal of the period, tying the game at 3-3.

26 seconds later, Sandler found a winner after crashing the net and scooping up the rebound off Brian Drapluk's slapper from mid-point.

Didur made 32 saves to record the win, while Desautels stopped 26 Surrey shots for the Warriors.

My Three Stars:
1. Jonah Renouf, Surrey
2. Matt Anholt, West Kelowna
3. Matt Dawson, Surrey

Up Next: The Eagles visit Penticton in a Fred Page Cup final rematch Saturday. Note the earlier-than-usual start time of 6:00 PM.