Warriors split weekend
The West Kelowna Warriors fired 41 shots on goal but could not beat a red-hot Bo Didur as the Salmon Arm Silverbacks closed out the BCHL pre-season with a 5-1 victory on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
The Warriors came to play in the early going and were rewarded with the game’s first goal at the 6:29 mark of the first period.
Jared Marino busted down the right wing with his shot rebounded off the end boards to Cavin Tilsley, who tucked the loose puck past Didur for a 1-0 lead.
The Silverbacks responded with a pair of first-period tallies that would put the visitors ahead for good. Justin Wilson scored off a goal-mouth scramble in front of Warriors netminder Nik Amundrud to tie the game 1-1 at 15:07. Then, at the 18-minute mark, Austin Chorney’s shot from the point beat a screened Amundrud on the blocker side for what stood up as the winning goal.
Salmon Arm’s Trevor Adams converted another scramble in front of Amundrud’s crease off a failed clearing attempt for the lone goal of the second period — pushed the lead to 3-1 for the Silverbacks.
Salmon Arm tacked on two more goals in the final frame, with Akito Hirose sliding the puck past a down-and-out Amundrud to make it 4-1 at 9:55.
Marcus Mitchell, a Kelowna product who turns 19 in October, bookended the scoring for Salmon Arm with a power-play goal at 18:42 of the third period to give the Silverbacks a split in the weekend home-and-home set.
Amundrud played the full 60 minutes for the Warriors and turned aside 31 of 36 shots in a losing effort, while Didur was superb with 40 saves in the Salmon Arm crease.
On Friday, at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm, the Warriors’ offence exploded in a 7-4 win that featured seven different goal-scorers for West Kelowna.
The Silverbacks opened the scoring at 4:19 of the first period as Grayson Constable beat Warriors goalie Cole Demers on the blocker side.
The Warriors responded on the shot clock and the scoreboard, as Willie Reim continued his hot exhibition season with his fourth goal in as many games — driving to the net on a West Kelowna power play and banging his own rebound past Silverbacks goalie Nic Tallarico to tie the game 1-1 at 16:01.
Stephen Kleysen, Parm Dhaliwal, Jordan Todd, Chase Dubois, R.J. Murphy and Chase Stevenson also scored for West Kelowna. Demers made 34 saves in backstopping the victory, while Tallarico stopped 39 of 46 shots as both netminders went the distance.
The Warriors embark on their 58-game regular-season schedule this Friday when they visit the Trail Smoke Eaters. The Warriors’ home opener is Saturday, 7 p.m. at RLP against Trail.