The Westside Warriors and Trail Smoke Eaters will face each on at least two more occasions.
The way their first round BCHL Interior Conference best-of-seven set has gone so far, don't bet against this series needing a seventh and deciding game.
One night after falling 5-4 in overtime in Trail, the Warriors climbed back into the series winning the all important fourth game Tuesday by the same 5-4 score in overtime.
Not only did the Warriors even the series, they also wrestled home ice advantage back from the Smoke Eaters.
“It's been a very good series, back and forth and now it's a best of three. We have two games at home and we'll see what happens,” says Warriors coach, Darren Yopyk.
“We're in a pretty good spot but I'm sure they're saying the same thing. It's a war of attrition, we have some injuries and I'm sure they do too. It's going to be a matter of competing hard and seeing what happens.”
With two straight overtime games, Yopyk says those two games in Trail could have gone either way.
“A bounce here and a bounce there and it could be different, it could be 3-1 for someone easily. That's hockey and we did a good job coming back and tying the series and taking home ice again.”
While their top players have been their top players over the last three games of the series, there's always a role player who comes through this time of year.
For the warriors, that was rookie Shawn Hochhausen, who scored the game winning goal in overtime Tuesday.
“I thought he had an excellent game even before that goal. He was very good down low and defensively he played a ton. He played real hard and competed real hard all season and it's showing off for him right now.”
The Smoke Eaters have hung tough in the series mainly on the back of an opportunistic power-play that has scored eight times in four games.
Despite those numbers, Yopyk says his penalty killers have actually done a pretty good job.
“I think we're doing a good job for the most part, we just seem to make one or two mistakes and it ends up in our net. That's the way it goes,” adds Yopyk.
“They have a very good power-play, we knew that going in. We need to try and set a box as best we can and when we do take penalties we have to kill those off and that starts with blocking shots and clearing out the front of the net.”
The Warriors will still be without forwards Brett Mulcahy, Quinn Gould and Stefan Nicholishen for Thursday's pivotal fifth game at Royal LePage Place.
Game six is in Trail Friday with game seven if necessary back in West Kelowna Saturday.
The way their first round BCHL Interior Conference best-of-seven set has gone so far, don't bet against this series needing a seventh and deciding game.
One night after falling 5-4 in overtime in Trail, the Warriors climbed back into the series winning the all important fourth game Tuesday by the same 5-4 score in overtime.
Not only did the Warriors even the series, they also wrestled home ice advantage back from the Smoke Eaters.
“It's been a very good series, back and forth and now it's a best of three. We have two games at home and we'll see what happens,” says Warriors coach, Darren Yopyk.
“We're in a pretty good spot but I'm sure they're saying the same thing. It's a war of attrition, we have some injuries and I'm sure they do too. It's going to be a matter of competing hard and seeing what happens.”
With two straight overtime games, Yopyk says those two games in Trail could have gone either way.
“A bounce here and a bounce there and it could be different, it could be 3-1 for someone easily. That's hockey and we did a good job coming back and tying the series and taking home ice again.”
While their top players have been their top players over the last three games of the series, there's always a role player who comes through this time of year.
For the warriors, that was rookie Shawn Hochhausen, who scored the game winning goal in overtime Tuesday.
“I thought he had an excellent game even before that goal. He was very good down low and defensively he played a ton. He played real hard and competed real hard all season and it's showing off for him right now.”
The Smoke Eaters have hung tough in the series mainly on the back of an opportunistic power-play that has scored eight times in four games.
Despite those numbers, Yopyk says his penalty killers have actually done a pretty good job.
“I think we're doing a good job for the most part, we just seem to make one or two mistakes and it ends up in our net. That's the way it goes,” adds Yopyk.
“They have a very good power-play, we knew that going in. We need to try and set a box as best we can and when we do take penalties we have to kill those off and that starts with blocking shots and clearing out the front of the net.”
The Warriors will still be without forwards Brett Mulcahy, Quinn Gould and Stefan Nicholishen for Thursday's pivotal fifth game at Royal LePage Place.
Game six is in Trail Friday with game seven if necessary back in West Kelowna Saturday.
