Okanagan Crusaders clinch first home win in series split vs. Fraser Valley

The Okanagan Crusaders recorded their first home win of the season on the weekend.

That‘s the good news.

The bad news is they followed up Friday night‘s 8-5 win in Winfield with a 7-3 loss on Saturday night at Memorial Arena in Kelowna to split their weekend set with the visiting University of the Fraser Valley (3-1-0).

With the setback, the Crusaders fell to 2-5-1 in their inaugural campaign and sit fifth in the seven-team B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League.

Friday's victory was a shootout from start to end, as the two teams scored early and often with Okanagan leading 4-3 and 6-4 at the period breaks.

The Crusaders were led by forward Craig Materi and defenceman Andrew Rebus, each with two goals and an assist, while Adam Butler earned the victory in goal. Kelly Loudoun, Jerry Gaba, Sasha Golin, with what stood as the game winner, and Matt Elia also scored for Okanagan, which outshot Fraser Valley 39-34. The Crusaders were five-for-nine on the power play, while Fraser Valley was zero-for-eight.

On Saturday, Fraser Valley scored two power-play goals en route to a 7-3 rout. Devin Gelowitz, Kolby Barnstable and Golin scored for Okanagan in a losing cause.

Okanagan has this weekend off before visiting top-ranked Simon Fraser (4-0-0) on Halloween. The Crusaders next home game is Nov. 20 when they host Selkirk (0-5-0) for a two-game set.