PHOTO: Wayne Moore/Castanet
The West Kelowna Warriors picked up their first win of the pre season on Friday night with a complete team effort in a 2-1 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The game started with a much better, fluid pace than the game on Wednesday against the Vees as the Warriors and ‘Backs went back and forth throughout the 60 minutes.
West-K got on the board first with a power play goal past the midway mark of the 1st frame. Mitch Martan cut in from the left wing and jammed the puck toward the goal with the rebound popping to Parm Dhaliwal who banging in the loose puck for a 1-0 lead.
Salmon Arm would tie the game with just 27 seconds remaining in the opening frame on a rebound put in by Josh Latta in front of the goal.
The 2nd period was much of the same for the two sides, with West Kelowna getting the go ahead with 6:22 to go in the middle stanza. After a terrific net drive from Reed Gunville, the rebound from his shot bounced off of Matthew Rutigliano and into the back of the net for a 2-1 Warrior lead.
The Warriors would go on to outshoot the Silverbacks by a 16-4 margin over the course of the third period and with help from the goaltending of Gunnar Nielsen, who came on in the 2nd period for Shane Farkas, both were solid in the Warrior crease, West Kelowna earned their first win of the pre season in front of their home crowd.
The Warriors will hit the road for Salmon Arm tomorrow to take on the Silverbacks for the 2nd and final time in the pre season. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm and can be seen live on FASTHockey or follow along on Twitter and Facebook for updates. West-K is back at home on Wednesday, August 30th when the Penticton Vees come to town for a 7:00 pm face-off.
