The West Kelowna Warriors open up a Thanksgiving weekend with a matchup against Interior Division rival Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Season Series:
Friday, October 7th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Friday, October 14th @ Shaw Centre (7:00 PM)
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 come into tonight after a 1-0 overtime victory over the Chilliwack Chiefs on Tuesday night at Royal LePage Place. Shane Farkas dazzled as he made 42 saves in the shutout win, which was the first shutout of his BCHL career and third win of the season. Reed Gunville provided the late game heroics with a nice deflection off a Jake Harrison shot coming just 1:09 into the first overtime period.
This is the first of seven meetings between the two clubs and the first since the Warriors knocked the ‘Backs out of the BCHL playoffs in the Interior Division semi finals last season, a series that went six games. The Warriors and Silverbacks will see quite a bit of each other over the next two weeks as three of West Kelowna’s next four games are against their neighbours from the Shuswap.
The Warriors and Silverbacks did meet in the pre season twice with the Warriors getting the upper hand on the ‘Backs, winning both games that were held early in the pre season. West Kelowna picked up a 2-1 victory in Royal LePage Place on August 27th before heading to Salmon Arm the next night and defeating the Silverbacks on home ice by a 4-3 score on August 28th.
The Warriors offence is still marred in a bit of a drought, again collecting just one goal against the Chiefs on Tuesday but were helped in large part by the goaltending of Shane Farkas. Reed Gunville has scored all the Warriors goals over the last two games, going back to last Friday against Penticton and as a team, West-K has found the back of the net three times in it’s last three games.
Two players that will look to spark the offence for the Warriors and carry on what was great numbers in the playoffs against the ‘Backs are Quin Foreman and Connor Sodergren. Each had five points in the six game playoff series and will look to keep that success rolling and have it carry over into the 2016/17 regular season.
The Silverbacks have not had a start that anyone could’ve predicted, getting out of the gate with a 2-6-0-0 record and have given up the second most goals in the BCHL heading into Friday’s action.
Salmon Arm is coming off of back-to-back losses last weekend when they hosted the Merritt Centennials on Friday night, dropping a 5-2 decision to the hands of the Cents followed the next night by a trip down south to take on the Wenatchee Wild, where things didn’t go much better, being defeated by a 9-0 score.
The ‘Backs are led in scoring by one of their nine returning players in the likes of Elijiah Barriga, who has six goals and ten points in the team’s first eight games. Mitch Skapski also returns for his second season with the club and was named captain in the off season while goaltender Brandon Kegler recently returned from the Western Hockey League with the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Kegler started both of the games last week for Salmon Arm, who will have another new face in the line up as they have added forward Haydn Hopkins from the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
The game goes tonight at Royal LePage Place at 7:00 pm with pre game on the Warriors Internet Network and FASTHockey.com at 6:50 pm. Tickets can also be purchased at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051.
