PHOTO: Chris Fowler/Pure Life Photography
SALMON ARM, BC. – The West Kelowna Warriors will play with their season on the line on Friday night as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in Game 4 of their Interior Conference Semi Final on Wednesday night at the Shaw Centre.
West Kelowna will need to win three games in a row to keep their season alive, which they are 1-0 in elimination games so far in the playoffs after a 5-1 Game 7 win over the Cranbrook Bucks in the opening round. Game 5 goes on Friday night at Royal LePage Place at 7:00 PM with tickets on sale on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Box Office, open one hour before puck drop.
It was all Salmon Arm on the scoresheet in the opening 20 minutes of play which saw them take a 3-0 lead into the 2nd period of action. Cole Cooksey opened the scoring for the Silverbacks at the 6:17 mark of the 1st frame on a power play as his shot from the right goal line and a sharp angle lifted over the left shoulder of Matthew DellaRusso to give the home side a 1-0 edge.
JJ Monteiro put the Silverbacks ahead by a 2-0 score as he walked to the slot on his backhand and floated a shot that got past the blocker side of DellaRusso to extend the Salmon Arm lead to a pair of goals at the 14:54 mark of the opening period.
Before the period was out, Patrick Raftery pushed the Silverbacks lead to three goals and their largest lead of the series since Game 1 on a backdoor play. Raftery was fed from the left wing by Nathan Mackie to the right side as Raftery potted the loose puck at the glove side of DellaRusso to give the Silverbacks a 3-0 lead after one period.
After a 2nd period that featured more penalties than any other activity in the game, the Silverbacks continued to hold a 3-0 advantage heading into the final period of play while the Warriors held the shots on goal edge at 17-15 through 40 minutes.
The 3rd period once again saw no scoring between the two sides as the Warriors had a power play chance with just over 9 minutes gone that they could not convert on while outshooting Salmon Arm by a 10-9 margin in the final frame but it was Pulver who closed the door and helped his team to a Game 4 victory.
Pulver made saves on all 27 shots he faced in his 7th win of the playoffs while Matthew DellaRusso turned aside away 21 of the 24 shots he faced in his 7th loss of the playoffs.
FINAL SCORE: 3-0 Silverbacks
SHOTS ON GOAL: 27-24 Warriors
WARRIORS PP: 0/8
WARRIORS PK: 7/8
3 STARS7
1) Eli Pulver (27-save shutout)
2) Cole Cooksey (1-0-1)
3) Jonah Aegerter (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Nathan Mackie (0-0-0)
ATTENDANCE: 1,046
The series returns to the Central Okanagan for Game 5 as the Warriors look to keep their season alive as they host the Silverbacks on Friday night at Royal LePage Place. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase online on the Warriors website as well as in-person at the Box Office, open one hour ahead of the opening face-off.
