Warriors split weekend with Salmon Arm

Parity is alive and well in the BCHL’s Interior Division, with all seven teams near the .500 mark and separated by just two points in the standings coming out of the weekend.

The West Kelowna Warriors are part of a three-way tie for first place with the defending BCHL champion Wenatchee Wild and the Merritt Centennials — all with matching 5-4-0-0 records for 10 points.

The Trail Smoke Eaters (4-31-0) are alone in fourth place, with nine points, while the Penticton Vees (4-3-0-0), Salmon Arm Silverbacks (4-40-0) and Vernon Vipers (3-32-0) are in a three-way tie for fifth place on eight points.

Mixed results has been the theme of the season thus far, and that trend continued for the Warriors on the weekend in splitting a home-and-home set with Salmon Arm, winning 5-3 on Friday night in front of 512 fans at Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna before falling 4-1 on the road Saturday.

The Silverbacks host the Warriors again this Friday — 7 p.m. at Shaw Centre — and then West Kelowna returns home to face the Victoria Grizzlies in a Sunday matinee, 2:30 p.m. at RLP.

The Vipers also split their weekend results in a pair of home games, blanking Wenatchee 2-0 on Friday, then losing 5-2 to Merritt on Saturday with crowds of 2,089 and 1,715 fans at Kal Tire Place in Vernon.

The Vees, bolstered by the addition of two over-age forwards, gained some ground on the weekend by winning both of their games, 6-3 in Merritt on Friday and 2-0 over Alberni Valley on Saturday, which attracted 3,410 fans for Penticton’s home opener at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

The Vees and Vipers play a home-and-home this weekend, starting Friday in Penticton with the return game in Vernon on Saturday.