The West Kelowna Warriors (27-20-6-0) will see their regular season come to an end on Saturday night as they take on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (27-19-4-2) at the Shaw Centre.
REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE VS. SALMON ARM:
Saturday, October 29th @ Royal LePage Place (7-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Sunday, January 8th @ Royal LePage Place (5-3 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, January 28th @ Shaw Centre (4-1 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, February 10th @ Shaw Centre (7-1 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, March 25th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
The Warriors snapped a six-game winless drought in a big way, tying a franchise record with 14 goals in a single game while 11 players had multi-point games in a 14-0 victory over the Merritt Centennials on Friday night at Royal LePage Place. Rylee Hlusiak, Jake Bernadet and affiliate player Marik Mamic each had two goals in the game while Riley Sharun, Ben MacDonald, Luke Devlin, Brennan Nelson, Jaiden Moriello, Michael Salandra, Isaiah Norlin and Matthew Lee each potted singles in the win. Cayden Hamming was strong all night long, denying each of the 16 shots thrown his way in his 8th win of the season and first career shutout in the BCHL.
West Kelowna will look to finish their season series against the Silverbacks with a victory though it has been Salmon Arm who have won back-to-back games in the season set, including handing the Warriors a 7-1 loss in early February. Jake Bernadet scored the lone goal in the game for West Kelowna while Cayden Hamming turned aside 12 of the 16 shots thrown his way in the loss in net before Angelo Zol came on and made 21 saves on 24 shots in relief.
Warriors Leading Scorers:
Jaiden Moriello (24-30-54)
Ben MacDonald (23-27-50)
Rylee Hlusiak (21-29-50)
Isaiah Norlin (6-37-43)
Brennan Nelson (12-26-38)
Following Friday night’s big win, which saw each of the players in the lineup (minus goaltenders) come away with at least a point, the Warriors have had their scoring spread out throughout the course of the season. West Kelowna has seen 12 different players achieve the double digit mark in goals this season after forward Riley Sharun was the 12th to do so in the win over Merritt. Only the Penticton Vees, who also have 12 players with double digit goals, are near the Warriors in that regard.
The formula is simple for the Warriors coming into Saturday night’s big tilt against the Silverbacks: win and third place is all yours. West Kelowna took care of business on Friday and will now play a Salmon Arm team who had the day off on Friday with a win securing them 3rd place in the Interior Conference while race remains tight in the middle of the standings in both conferences.
Vernon, BC product Cayden Hamming produced the first shutout of the season for the Warriors and first in his BC Hockey League career while blanking the Centennials on 16 shots thrown his way on the night. The shutout was the first of the season for the Warriors while Hamming has produced 8 wins in his 18 games played this season.
The Salmon Arm Silverbacks come into Saturday night after having the night off on Friday but falling in mid-week action to the Penticton Vees on Wednesday night at the Shaw Centre by a 6-3 score. Liam Steele, Hayden Stavroff and Will Lavigne each had markers in the losing effort while Matthew Tovell turned aside 31 of the 36 shots thrown his way in his 17th loss of the season.
Silverbacks Leading Scorers:
Nathan Mackie (27-22-49)
Owen Beckner (17-32-49)
Ethan Ullrick (18-29-47)
Brandon Santa Juana (14-25-39)
Isaac Lambert (16-22-38)
With 13 goals and 33 points in 38 games played this season, Silverbacks forward Hayden Stavroff is enjoying a strong start to his BCHL career in his first season. The Dublin, Ohio native scored on Wednesday against Penticton, which saw him with a point for the third time in his last four games. Stavroff has posted a goal and four assists for five points in that span of four games and has registered multi-point games in 9 of the 23 games he has posted a point in.
No one has played more minutes in the BCHL than Silverbacks goaltender Matthew Tovell as the 20-year-old has played just over 2,600 minutes this season and has posted 23 wins, which ranks him in a tie for 4th in the league in that department. The York University commit sits 5th in the league in goals against average at 2.63 while also placing 6th in save percentage at .919. His 4 shutouts this season have him tied for 3rd amongst netminders while suiting up in the most games of any player this season at 45.
The Warriors and Silverbacks will play the fifth of their five-game season series on Saturday night at the Shaw Centre. Puck drop is slated for 6:00 PM with the game being broadcasted live on the Warriors Broadcast Network (mixlr.com/bchlwarriors) as well as streamed online on BCHLTV.ca.
