The West Kelowna Warriors hit the road for the first time in 21 days as they head to the Shaw Centre to take on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Season Series:
Friday, October 7th @ Royal LePage Place (5-3 Silverbacks)
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 and Silverbacks have met once on the season, with Salmon Arm taking the game by a 5-3 final last Friday at RLP. West Kelowna made a valiant comeback effort after trailing 3-1 in the first but could not complete it fully. Reed Gunville, Chase Dubois and Connor Sodergren all tallied in the 5-3 loss to the ‘Backs while Shane Farkas and Xavier Burghardt split the game in goal with Burghardt getting saddled with the loss.
West Kelowna will look to put the bad memories of a 1-4 home stand behind them heading into this home-and-home with the Silverbacks. The Warriors completed the five game stretch with a 3-2 loss to the Vernon Vipers, a game in which the Warriors fired 43 shots on goal but Vernon goaltender Cole Demers was excellent, making 41 saves in the victory. Braiden Epp scored his first two goals as a member of the Warriors while Xavier Burghardt made 36 saves in the defeat.
As the Warriors scoring woes continue, there are signs that goals could be on the horizon. The effort level has been very high and the Warriors are coming off of back-to-back games with 43 shots on goal. The Warriors, when they score, have left it until late as well as the team had three third period goals over the course of last weekend.
Special teams have been on an upswing as well for West-K as the club grabbed three power play markers last weekend (four if the goal just as the PP had expired in the game against the Vipers counts). The man advantage is starting to click while the penalty kill has hit a bit of a rough patch as the PK was 6/10 over the two games last weekend against Vernon and Salmon Arm.
The Silverbacks come into tonight’s game with a 4-7-0-0 record after loss to the Trail Smoke Eaters at Cominco Arena on Wednesday night by a 4-1 score. Riley Hayles had the only goal in the defeat for the ‘Backs while Trevin Kozlowski made 31 saves on 35 shots in the losing effort.
The ‘Backs, despite the loss on Wednesday, have been playing good hockey as of late, winning both their games last weekend against the Warriors the travelling back home and defeating the Surrey Eagles by a 6-3 score. The good play also saw Salmon Arm forward Marcus Mitchell receive the BCHL’s Player of the Week honours as he collected three goals and four assists for seven points over the ‘Backs two games.
The Silverbacks enter the night with a 2-4 home record on the season and have just one win against an Interior Division team this season. Salmon Arm will also look to strengthen their special teams as the PP is a respectable 6th in the BCHL but the penalty kill is ranked last at 17th and operating at 60.4%.
Puck drop is slated for 7:00 pm at the Shaw Centre where the game can be heard live with free audio on the Warriors Internet Network or can be viewed live on pay-per-view at www.hockeytv.com with the voice of the Warriors Trevor Miller.
