It was a hard-fought effort for the West Kelowna Warriors but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Brooks Bandits 5-4 in overtime on Friday night (April 11), bringing their season to an end.

With the win, Brooks won the first-round BCHL playoff series 4-1.

The Warriors opened the scoring when Elias Callgren scored his fourth of the postseason just 1:19 into the game, assisted by Joey Macrina.

Just over four minutes later, Bandits' Nick Peluso found the back of the net to tie the game. Late in the period, he would add his second goal of the contest to give Brooks a 2-1 lead after the first period.

West Kelowna's Axel Lofgren had the only goal of the second period, scoring 2:19 into the middle stanza, assisted by Ben Miller and Logan Flint.

Tied going into the third period, the Bandits' ability to strike in quick succession happened earlier in the period as Keith McInnis and Dante Siciliano scored two and a half minutes apart, giving Brooks a 4-2 lead just 3:32 into the period.

With their season on the line, the Warriors didn't back down. Close to the halfway point of the period, they got back within one when Jackson Kyrkostas potted a powerplay goal, assisted from Lofgren.

As the game was getting close to the end of regulation, Lofgren played hero for the Warriors, scoring his second goal of the game with 70 seconds left to tie it 4-4 and force overtime.

Free hockey was played on Friday night where 11:28 in, Peluso's point shot got through everyone and into the back of the net for him to complete the hat-trick as well as secure the 5-4 win and first-round series win for the Bandits.

Warriors goaltender 脡douard Gauthier made 24 saves in the loss while Brooks' Zach Zahara stopped 36 saves in the win.

With the loss, the Warriors 2024/25 season came to an end. Meanwhile, the Bandits advance to the second round of the playoffs where they will take on either the Sherwood Park Crusaders or the Trail Smoke Eaters.