FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 24th, 2018
WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors used a hat-trick from Matt Kowalski and plenty of offence from returnees as they picked up a 8-2 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday night at Royal LePage Place.
Kowalski scored once in the first period while adding two in the second frame to complete the hat trick while Parm Dhaliwal collected a pair of goals and an assist with Chase Dubois scoring once and assisting twice in an offensively-powered attack that helped the Warriors to their first victory of the preseason.
Salmon Arm was the team to get ahead first in the game, scoring just 1:55 into the contest as Hayden Dick walked into the right face-off circle and shot through the legs of Warriors starter Connor Hopkins to get a 1-0 lead early in the game.
The Warriors got back in the game and tied things up with a big burst of offence coming in the final ten minutes of the opening period. Matt Kowalski was sprung on a shorthanded breakaway and went to the backhand before finishing off on his forehand through the legs of Salmon Arm’s starter in Jordan Fairlie to tie the game at 1-1 at the 11:00 mark of the 1st period.
West Kelowna took their first lead of the game at just a minute and three seconds later at the 12:03 mark as Parm Dhaliwal took a pass from Chase Dubois and wristed home a shot from the right circle before Tyler Pang gave the Warriors a 3-1 lead at the 13:33 mark on a slick pass from Lane Goodwin before going backhand-forehand to get West Kelowna ahead by two goals and scoring three goals in 3:33.
Salmon Arm inched closer, getting within a goal at the 16:39 mark of the frame with a power play goal coming from returnee Trevor Adams before West Kelowna got their lead back to two at the 17:38 mark on the power play as well as Dubois rifled a one-timer in the slot on a pass from Dhaliwal to get ahead by a 4-2 score at the end of the 1st period.
Dhaliwal tacked on another goal to begin the second period at the 5:07 mark before Kowalski added his second of the contest as well with a goal from the right face-off circle to push the Warriors lead to 6-2 and end the night of Fairlie as he handed off the goaltending duties to Andrew Slobiski.
Kowalski completed the hat trick as the Warriors returning forward gave the Warriors a 7-2 lead on an identical looking shot that he had on his second goal as he fired a shot from the right side over the blocker of the right-handed catching Slobiski to get ahead by five goals after two periods.
The Warriors capped off the scoring in the final period of play on a power play goal, their second of the game as Lane Goodwin tipped in a shot from Pang at the point to get ahead by an 8-2 score at the 9:30 mark of the final period, the eventual final score of the game.
Connor Hopkins got the start for the Warriors, turning aside 11 of the first 13 shots he faced in the game before handing off to Hayden Missler, who made all of the 13 shots thrown his way. Jordan Fairlie started for the Silverbacks, turning aside 9 of the 14 shots he faced before giving way to Andrew Slobiski, saving 6 of the 8 shots he faced in the game.
The Warriors are back in preseason action with the second of a weekend home-and-home set with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks taking place at the Shaw Centre for a 7:00 PM puck drop. The game will be available for broadcast on the Warriors Internet Network as well as HockeyTV.com.
Season tickets are now on sale for the upcoming 2018/19 season, which is set to begin Friday, September 7th before heading to Royal LePage Place to host the Trail Smoke Eaters in their home opener on Saturday, September 8th. Head to the Warriors newly renovated office to check in on ticket details.
