The West Kelowna Warriors will find out if a three-game tour of Vancouver Island this weekend will serve as a remedy for their recent BCHL winless streak.
The Warriors, who have just a point to show for the last four games (0-3-1), will be in Nanaimo this Friday to visit the Clippers. On Saturday West Kelowna will be in Cowichan Valley, followed by a visit to Victoria on Sunday afternoon.
After a 5-4 loss in overtime Friday night in Merritt to the Centennials, the Warriors returned home where they dropped their fourth in a row, 7-4 to the Vernon Vipers.
Special teams were the Warriors undoing as they yielded two power play and two shorthanded goals en route to their fifth loss in six games.
“We need to get back to some simple hockey and we are making mistakes we shouldn’t be making 10 games into the season,” said Warriors assistant coach Brent Gough.
“We need to get back to simple hockey, compete every shift and pay attention to the little details and get this ship back on track.”
West Kelowna took a 2-0 lead midway through the first, only to see the Vipers answer back with there straight goals.
After tying the game 3-3 in the second on a goal by Jason Cotton, the Warriors fell behind for good when TJ Dumonceaux scored the Vipers second shorthanded goal of the night.
Trevor Fidler scored twice more for Vernon in the third to put the game away.
Liam Blackburn had a goal and an assist for the Warriors (5-5-1-0) and now leads the BCHL in scoring with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists.
Meanwhile, the Warriors added a sixth 20-year-old player to their roster with the acquisition last week of forward Andrew Johnson. The Saskatoon native played four seasons in the WHL with Swift Current Seattle and Moose Jaw.
Johnson was in the lineup for both Warriors’ games over the weekend.
