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GAME PREVIEW: Warriors Conclude Regular Season Against Silverbacks

PHOTO: Chris Fowler/Pure Life Photography

The West Kelowna Warriors conclude their regular season schedule as they make their way to the Shuswap to face-off against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night at the Shaw Centre.

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Warriors vs. Silverbacks 2017/18 Schedule:

Saturday, October 7th @ Royal LePage Place (4-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)

Sunday, October 22nd @ Shaw Centre (3-1 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)

Wednesday, November 8th @ Royal LePage Place (5-2 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, January 20th @ Royal LePage Place (3-2 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)

Friday, February 2nd @ Shaw Centre (5-4 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, February 24th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)

The Warriors and Silverbacks meet for the final time on Saturday with Salmon Arm having won three of the five matchups on the season including a 5-4 win in the last game these two teams played each other in early February. RJ Murphy scored twice in the game while Parm Dhaliwal and Chase Stevenson added singles in the defeat for the Warriors with Nik Amundrud starting the game, making 13 saves on 18 shots before being relieved by Cole Demers, who stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced but did get credited with the loss.

West Kelowna comes into Saturday night’s action with a 28-26-1-2 record and sit in 5th place in the Interior Division with 59 points and clinched that 5th place spot after a 2-1 overtime victory against the Merritt Centennials on Friday night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Jake Harrison scored a 2nd period power play goal to give the Warriors the lead before Merritt tied the game that eventually went to overtime with Parm Dhaliwal playing hero just 30 seconds into the extra frame. Nik Amundrud stopped 40 of the 41 shots he faced in the game for the Warriors and earned his 17th win of the season.

Warriors Leading Scorers:

Chase Dubois (20-36-56)

Jared Marino (21-32-53)

Ryan Steele (19-33-52)

RJ Murphy (21-24-45)

Michael Ryan (7-37-44)

With the Warriors overtime win on Friday in Merritt, West Kelowna secured 5th place in the Interior Division and will play the Trail Smoke Eaters in the opening round of the BCHL playoffs, beginning on Friday, March 2nd. A full schedule of the Warriors and Smoke Eaters first round series will be released at a later date. This will be the first playoff series between the Warriors and Smoke Eaters since the 2011 playoffs where the Warriors won the series in seven games.

It is another milestone game for a member of the Warriors as forward Parm Dhaliwal will play in his 100th career regular season BCHL game on Saturday night against the ‘Backs. The Surrey, BC native is enjoying a great season thus far with 17 goals and 41 points in his 43 games played on the season while having scored four goals in the last three games, with his total of 17 goals this season surpassing his total from a season ago at 6.

With an assist on Dhaliwal’s overtime winner in Merritt on Friday, Ryan Steele has extended his season-high point streak to 12 games. The Sacred Heart University commit has registered 11 goals and 22 points over this 12-game span and has vaulted to 52 points on the season, good for 3rd on the Warriors in points. Steele has fit in quite well with the offence in West Kelowna as he has scored 12 goals and 24 points in just 17 games in a Warriors sweater.

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks come into Saturday night’s action with a 23-29-2-4 record and are looking to try and turn around what has been a rough stretch in a five game in four-and-a-half-day sequence. Salmon Arm took an 8-5 loss on Friday night in Trail against the Smoke Eaters with Brandon Whistle scoring twice along with Hudson Schandor, affiliate player Jackson Cooke and Demetri Kambeitz scoring singles in the game while Kyle Dumba stopped 43 of the 51 shots thrown his way for his 18th loss of the season.

Silverbacks Leading Scorers:

Rhett Kingston (24-25-49)

Tanner Campbell (13-22-35)

Nick Unruh (11-18-29)

Akito Hirose (4-24-28)

Trevor Adams (13-13-26)

The Silverbacks are in the midst of the toughest part of their schedule after a game against the Merritt Centennials scheduled for last week was cancelled. That resulted in the Silverbacks having to play five games in four and a half days and it has started out in a rough way. The ‘Backs have dropped all three of their games in the last three days and have been outscored by a 22-7 margin but do know they will play out of the 7th seed in the Interior Division and play either the Penticton Vees or Vernon Vipers in the 1st round of the BCHL playoffs.

Discipline has been one of the biggest areas of concern for the Silverbacks in their last three games as they have allowed 3 or more goals against on the penalty kill in each of those three contests coming against Penticton, Merritt and Trail. The Silverbacks PK has gone 8/18 in those games, operating at a 44.4% rate and sit last in the BCHL at 76.1% on the season.

Salmon Arm has won three of the five games in the season series against the Warriors, including both games at the Shaw Centre while outscoring West Kelowna by an 8-5 margin. Rhett Kingston leads the ‘Backs in scoring against the Warriors this season with 2 goals and 5 points while Hudson Schandor has collected a pair of goals and 4 points in 4 games versus West Kelowna.

The Warriors and Silverbacks drop the puck on the final game of the regular season at 7:00 PM with the pre-game show getting underway at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Warriors Trevor Miller and special guest colour commentator, Warriors defenseman Stephen Kleysen.