Morning Star Staff
Two of the three teams chasing the golden fourth playoff spot in the BCHL Interior Division posted upset wins Friday night.
Sam Johnson scored at 4:09 of double overtime as the Merritt Centennials clipped the West Kelowna Warriors 2-1 before 800 fans at Nicola Valley Arena.
The Cents moved within a point of the fifth-place Salmon Arm SilverBacks, 2-1 winners over the Penticton Vees before 2,020 fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Salmon Arm is three points back of the Vernon Vipers, with one game in hand.
Vernon visited West Kelowna, while Merritt hosted the Trail Smoke Eaters and Penticton was in Salmon Arm, Saturday night.
The Vees lead the conference by a deuce over West Kelowna, who are five points ahead of Vernon.
Bryden Marsh and Landon Smith had second-period goals for the SilverBacks, who got one assist from Vernon’s Alex Jewell.
In Bantam Tier 1 playoff action, Kelowna stopped the Vernon Sun Valley Sports Vipers 6-2 Friday night.
Matthew Kowalski and Stephane Richard scored for Vernon. Game two in the best-of-three series went Saturday in Kelowna.
