WEST KELOWNA, BC. – Rorke Applebee made 22 saves for his second shutout of the season while four different goal scorers came together as the West Kelowna Warriors earned a 4-0 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
A scoreless opening period saw the team’s goaltenders play a big part in the first 20 minutes of action with each of Rorke Applebee and Eli Pulver doing the bulk of the work. Pulver was the busier of the two netminders, turning aside each of the 13 shots he faced in the Salmon Arm net while Applebee made saves on the 9 shots thrown his way in the period.
The Warriors offense erupted in the 2nd period, finding the back of the net three separate times and began early in the period courtesy of Brennan Nelson, who notched his 5th goal of the season on the power play to give the Warriors the opening goal of the game.
Michael Salandra took the puck to the top of the slot and sent a puck through traffic to the net that Pulver made a save on before Nelson dug the puck through the legs of the Silverbacks goaltender and squeaked it over the goal line just 1:55 into the middle frame to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
Just 40 seconds after the opening goal, Trent Wilson doubled the Warriors advantage with his 7th goal of the season coming at the 2:35 mark of the period. Jack Pridham had the puck behind the goal and moved to the blocker side of Pulver on the goal line before spotting Wilson on the backdoor as he shoveled in the feed on the glove side to push the Warriors ahead by a pair.
West Kelowna continued its strong second frame, outshooting Salmon Arm by an 18-7 margin overall in the period, with Caden Kemkaran-Humble adding to the scoring and giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead. Owen Drury sent a saucer pass into the offensive end where Eliot Compton played a pass from the right face-off circle to the left side as Kemkaran-Humble fired a shot just over the blocker shoulder of Pulver for his 3rd goal of the season and a 3-0 Warriors lead.
That score remained until Zhenya Miles capped off the scoring in the game and collected his first career BC Hockey League marker at 2:57 of the 3rd period. Jackson Kyrkostas worked a puck to the blue line where Miles lifted a shot through traffic and past the glove hand of Pulver that gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead and counted as the first in the 17-year-old’s career.
Rorke Applebee and the defense shut the door as the Warriors netminder made 22 saves for his second shutout and 10th victory of the season while Eli Pulver turned away 37 of the 41 shots he faced in his 5th loss of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-0 Warriors
SHOTS ON GOAL: 41-22 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 1/7
WARRIORS PK: 6/6
3 STARS:
1) Rorke Applebee (22-save shutout)
2) Zhenya Miles (1-0-1)
3) Caden Kemkaran-Humble (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Trey Ausmus (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,057
West Kelowna (15-6-2-0) will host the first of a two-game weekend on home ice beginning with the Trail Smoke Eaters (9-9-6-0) coming to town on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM at Royal LePage Place with tickets available for purchase on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Box Office ahead of the game.
