Warriors lose big in season finale

SALMON ARM — West Kelowna Warriors fell short in their final game of the BCHL's regular season, dropping an 8-3 decision to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, Saturday.

The Silverbacks opened the scoring at the 4:48 mark of the first period with former Warrior Tanner Campbell getting the home team on the board courtesy of a power play. Brandon Whistle centered the puck from behind the Warriors net with Nick Unruh getting a shot on goaltender Cole Demers that was stopped but the rebound was potted in by Campbell to give the Silverbacks a 1-0 lead.

Affiliate player Jackson Cooke added to the lead at the 6:45 mark of the opening period on a redirection past the blocker side of Demers. Grayson Constable started the play in the neutral zone and winded his way into the Warriors’ zone before sending a pass to the slot for the tip by Cooke and the 20 Salmon Arm advantage.

The Silverbacks scored their third goal of the opening period at the 11:10 mark of the first frame with Noah Wakeford tapping in a backdoor pass. Wakeford was fed in at the blocker side from Joe Leahy in the slot to push the Silverbacks lead to three to close out the opening period of scoring.

Salmon Arm kept the scoring coming in the second period, earning a 4-0 lead at the 2:42 mark of the middle stanza as Cooke tallied his second goal of the night on a similar play to his first. Cooke redirected a pass from the right corner off the stick off Rhett Kingston and chipped it by the glove side of Demers for the fourgoal lead.

Akito Hirose pushed the Silverbacks advantage to five on a bit of puck luck on the power play. Campbell had his original shot from the top of the slot blocked but the puck bounced right to the tape of Hirose who beat Demers from the left-wing face-off circle low on the blocker side for a 5-0 Salmon Arm lead at the 5:06 mark.

Just 17 seconds after the Hirose tally, Wakeford added his second goal of the contest as he rushed to the front of the net after a loose puck and slid it through Demers at the 5:23 mark of the second period and put Salmon Arm ahead by a 6-0 score.

The Warriors found the back of the net for the first time in the game at the 9:35 mark of the second period with Michael Lombardi scoring for the first time in six games. Lombardi had his first two shots from the right face-off circle blocked before a third attempt was chipped up and over a sprawled Reid Cooper in the Salmon Arm goal for his 16th goal of the season and a 6-1 lead.

Salmon Arm scored twice in the opening moments of the third period as Grayson Constable scored just 28 seconds into the period and Nick Unruh found the back of the net at the 1:04 mark of the period to make it an 8-1 Silverbacks lead before the Warriors closed out the game with a pair of goals.

Chase Stevenson took a Max Bulawka pass in the left face-off circle and let go of a perfect wrist shot to the glove side corner of Cooper’s net for his 12th goal of the season at the 8:18 mark of the period to get the Salmon Arm lead down to 8-2.

The scoring on the night was capped off by Chase Dubois at the 9:14 mark of the final period of play as he took a Ryan Steele pass down the right wing and outwaited everyone as he glided behind the net before tucking the puck in on the blocker side on a wraparound for his 21st goal of the season and making the final score 8-3 in favour of the Silverbacks.

Cole Demers got the start in goal for the Warriors, making 39 saves on 47 shots in his 11th loss of the season while Reid Cooper turned aside 26 of the 29 shots he faced in the game for his ninth win of the season.

The Warriors finish the regular season with a 28-27-1-2 record and will take on the Trail Smoke Eaters in the first round of the BCHL playoffs. Game No. 1 in the series takes place on Friday at Cominco Arena for a 7 p.m.

West Kelowna is back on home ice for Games No. 3 and 4 in their first-round series against the Smoke Eaters on Monday, March 5 and Tuesday, March 6. Playoff tickets go on sale Monday morning and can be purchased online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office or by phoning (250) 769-7051.