Last night's game featured an entertaining matchup between two regional rivals in the SMJHL, as the Kelowna Knights visited the Pacific Coliseum to tangle with the Vancouver Whalers on their three-game homestand. In the two teams' first meeting of the season, the Whalers took a convincing 6-2 decision on their home ice.

The first period of the game didn't get off to a very good start for the Whalers. Only 99 seconds into the game, Knights centre Morgan Forestier won a faceoff in his own end, but while battling for the puck, Whalers rookie winger William Hartmann caught Forestier up high with his stick, earning him a trip to the box. Fortunately, the Whalers' strong defensive gameplan helped a PK unit led by Stracimir Petrovic kill off the entire penalty without an opposing shot on goal. The Whalers power play would, in turn, get a chance go to to work when Kelowna defenseman Alex Ranch was whistled for holding. The unit was more effective, being able to direct three shots towards goalie Luca Del Vecchio and three more that just missed, but the end of the first period arrived without a score.

In the second period, Vancouver's third line, which hadn't done much in the first frame, really showed what they were capable of about three minutes in. After a dump-in by Kelowna's Michael Preeb, second-year Whalers defenseman Sabo Tage kickstarted the breakout with a good outlet pass to Miro Slapskinnenen, who got the puck to Nicholas Corrigan. Corrigan put together a great zone entry by protecting the puck with his body, then dropped it back for Tage at the blueline. Tage, not seeing an option at the front of the net, threw a pass off the right boards for Corrigan, but he was bumped and couldn't receive the pass, instead tipping it down low for The stingray that Killed steve irwin. Irwin took the puck around the back of the net, waited for an option, and then shot through traffic in front of the net. Del Vecchio couldn't see the puck and the Whalers got on the board first. Kelowna would strike back later, though. A Tommy Outlaw penalty set up a Knights power-play goal, on the first of two such occurrences in this game. On this one, the rookie defenseman took a tripping penalty. Kelowna wasted no time on this play, getting pressure and shots on Vancouver's starting goalie, White Goodman. Forty seconds in, Theo Golury got free at the top of the faceoff circle and took a wrist shot. It missed the net, but a fortunate bounce meant the puck bounced off the end boards and came right to Gylfi Eriksson on the other side, who banged in an easy goal to tie the game at one.

This back-and-forth battle reached another level in the third period. After a Knights icing by Andrey Barbashev II, the Whalers had a faceoff in Kelowna's end. With the fourth line on the ice, they made no mistake here, keeping possession before Sabo Tage eventually fed Dario Medici at the left circle for a one-timer that beat Del Vecchio on the blocker side to put Vancouver back on top. However, the lead was short-lived, as Tommy Outlaw took another penalty, this time for interferign with Danila Zhernov. Rocco Berni won the faceoff on the power play and the Whalers penalty kill never even touched the puck on the possession, with several great passes from Kelowna's potent power play leading to a goal by Luciano Vessot to tie the game. From here, the energized Knights put on a barrage, and White Goodman was exemplary, making twelve saves in the third period to keep the score tied. With neither team able to break through again, the game headed to overtime. 

The extra period was relatively uneventful, with an Irwin shot for Vancouver on a broken play being the most dangerous scoring chance in overtime, so a shootout was needed. Up first for Kelowna, Kalevolaripaavo Kaspertommevisnapuu skated in but missed the net glove side. Whalers leading scorer Francois Breton was up next, and he made no mistake, making a quick deke before slipping the puck between the pads of Luca Del Vecchio. From here, it was all White Goodman, as he made great stops on Rocco Berni and then Andrey Barbashev II to secure the win, while Marcus Ohlsson was stopped.

3rd Star: Dario Medici (RW), VAN - 1 G, 2 shots, 7:53

The Whalers winger made the most of his limited ice time, scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period to put pressure on the Knights to come from behind.

2nd Star: The stingray that Killed steve irwin (LW), VAN - 1 G, 3 shots