PHOTO: Julie Pringle/Snap Photography
The West Kelowna Warriors return home after a long night of travel and aim for back-to-back wins as they host the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
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 (7:00 PM)
Friday, February 2nd @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 24th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Silverbacks play in the fourth of their six-game season series that sees the teams match up twice more after Saturday with both coming in Salmon Arm. The last time these two teams played, the Warriors came away with a 5-2 victory in early November at Royal LePage Place. Chase Dubois scored a pair of goals while Chase Stevenson, Jake Harrison and Michael Lombardi added singles in the Warriors victory. Cole Demers started in goal for the Warriors, turning aside 35 of the 37 shots he faced in the game for the win.
West Kelowna comes into Saturday night’s contest with a record of 22-20-1-1 to sit 4th in the Interior Division and picked up a big 2-1 victory against the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday night at Cominco Arena in Trail. Parm Dhaliwal provided all the scoring in the game for West Kelowna with a goal in each of the first and second period while Nik Amundrud turned aside 29 of the 30 shots he faced on the night and backstopped the Warriors to his 11th victory of the season.
Warriors Leading Scorers:
Jared Marino (18-27-45)
Chase Dubois (15-20-35)
Michael Ryan (5-28-33)
RJ Murphy (13-17-30)
Ryan Steele (8-22-30)
Parm Dhaliwal didn’t take long to return to game form as the 18-year-old Warriors forward provided both of the Warriors goals in their 2-1 victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters on Friday night. The multi-goal game was the second of the season for Dhaliwal to go along with a apir of goals he scored in Vernon against the Vipers on November 4th. The sophomore Warriors forward finishes the season series against the Smoke Eaters with 3 goals in 2 games at Cominco Arena.
The Warriors kick off the first of a four-game home stand tonight against the Silverbacks that sees the Coquitlam Express, Vernon Vipers and Alberni Valley Bulldogs come to West Kelowna over the next two-week stretch of time. West Kelowna comes into the game with a 13-7-1-0 record at Royal LePage Place this season and have played some of their best games on home ice, including a pair of victories against the Silverbacks at home this year.
For the first time in 10 games, the Warriors were able to hit the score sheet first on Friday night in Trail and seems to make a big difference in how they play. The Warriors hold a 14-3-0-0 record when scoring the game’s first goal compared to being 8-17-1-1 when not doing so. West Kelowna also improved their records when leading after one period to 12-2-0-0 and when leading after two periods of play at 19-0-0-0.
The Salmon Arm Silverbacks come into Saturday’s contest with a record of 17-23-1-3 and sit in 6th place in the Interior Division standings after back-to-back wins against the Nanaimo Clippers and most recently a 5-3 win on home ice over the Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday. Justin Wilson, Austin Chorney, Trevor Adams, Max Wutzke and Julian Timba scored in the game for Salmon Arm while Reid Cooper turned aside 22 of the 25 shots he faced in the game for his 5th win of the season.
Silverbacks Leading Scorers:
Rhett Kingston (20-20-40)
Tanner Campbell (8-15-23)
Grayson Constable (6-15-21)
Trevor Adams (11-9-20)
Nick Unruh (8-11-19)
The Silverbacks were one of the busier teams in the BCHL around the Trade Deadline as they traded forwards Marcus Mitchell and Josh Latta leaving much of the scoring on the team to 20-year-old Rhett Kingston. The recent commit of Western Michigan University, leads the team in goals (20), assists (20), points (40) and is tied for the lead in power play goals (4) and power play assists (8). The Okotoks, Alberta native is currently on a four-game point streak where he has collected four goals and six points in that span.
The secondary scoring for Salmon Arm has been coming through in the last few games as Tanner Campbell enters the night riding a four-game point streak. The former Warriors forward has scored twice to go along with six points during that stretch. Trevor Adams has scored in back-to-back games for the Silverbacks while Hudson Schandor is coming off of a three assist night on Friday against the Chiefs.
The month of January has been a good one for the Silverbacks thus far as they have collected points in 5 of the 7 games they have played so far this month. The ‘Backs hold a record of 4-2-1-0 in January and leapfrogged their way into the 6th place spot in the Interior Division with Friday’s victory over Chilliwack with a game in Langley next Tuesday before two more games at the Shaw Centre to close out the month.
The puck drops at 7:00 PM for the Warriors and Silverbacks from Royal LePage Place as the Warriors kick off the first of their four-game home stand. Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the door ahead of the opening face-off. The Warriors are back on home ice next Tuesday, January 23rd when they host the Coquitlam Express for the lone time on the season.
