The West Kelowna Warriors look to rebound as they conclude their home-and-home set with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Season Series:
Friday, October 7th @ Royal LePage Place (5-3 Silverbacks)
Friday, October 14th @ Shaw Centre (5-4 OT Silverbacks)
Saturday, October 15th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Wednesday, November 2nd @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
Tuesday, December 6th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Wednesday, February 15th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 25th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Silverbacks meet for the third time this season with Salmon Arm winning both of the first two matchups. Last Friday at RLP, the ‘Backs skated away with a 5-3 victory while last night, the Warriors relinquished a 4-0 lead and fell in overtime to the Silverbacks by a 5-4 score. Peter Tomaras, Blake Coffey, Reed Gunville and Mitch Barker tallied in the overtime setback while Xavier Burghardt made 33 saves on 38 shots in the OT loss.
After a three goal first period and early 2nd period goal, the Warriors looked to be in control but a banged up Salmon Arm team played hard and came back for an overtime victory and to get two points out of last night’s game. The two teams meet again just about 22 hours later to do it all again tonight at Royal LePage Place, where the Warriors, including tonight, will play only two of their next six games at as the schedule shifts to more of a road setting for West Kelowna.
The Warriors enter the night with a 4-4-0-0 home record and own a 2-5-0-1 record against the Interior Division, which is something the club would like to strengthen. The offence looks to be in good shape, however, scoring four times last night, including three assists by Quin Foreman, who now has 7 goals and 15 points on the season and has himself back in the top 20 in BCHL scoring, currently sitting tied for 11th.
The Silverbacks come into RLP winners of 3 of their last 4 games including the big comeback last night from down 4-0 early in the 2nd period. Head coach and GM Brandon West said before the game that the team isn’t going to use injuries as an excuse and that attitude was on full display last night with a hard fought comeback.
When the going gets tough, as it did last night for the ‘Backs when trailing, the veterans came through with big moments like Marcus Mitchell’s goal and assist (and now 6 points against the Warriors in three games this season) and Elijiah Barriga’s overtime winner on the power play. But also a new face rose to the occasion as Trevin Kozlowski made 26 saves in relief of Brandon Kegler.
Puck drop is slated for 7:00 pm at Royal LePage Place where the game can be heard live with free audio on the Warriors Internet Network or can be viewed live on pay-per-view at www.hockeytv.com with the voice of the Warriors Trevor Miller. Tickets can be purchased at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 756-7051.
