West Kelowna Warriors fans may have seen the positive result from Saturday’s road game, but many likely missed the heroics of goaltender Justin Katz.
Katz made 27 saves on 30 shots to help the Warriors snap a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Spruce Kings in Prince George.
One of those saves, however, stood out far more than the rest.
It was an incredible acrobatic save that Katz was forced into making after turning the puck over behind his own net.
He tried to play the puck to Dylan Brooks, but the pass wasn’t great and the puck bounced off the defenceman’s skate before being scooped up by Spruce Kings’ forward Adam Mendelson.
Mendelssohn wasted no time finding Evan Fedele in the slot who had a wide open net to shoot at while Katz scrambled back into his crease.
Fedele gets solid wood on the shot and places it perfectly towards the side of the yawning cage, but Katz lunges back towards the puck and somehow gets his outstretched goal stick on it.
He got just enough of his blade on the shot to deflect the puck slightly wide and it trickled into the corner.
Without that save it may have been a completely different story and the Warriors’ losing streak could have been extended to five, but instead they made the long journey home with a much-needed win.
West Kelowna is back in action on Friday as they host the Vernon Vipers at Royal LePage Place for the annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
