Just past the quarter pole in the B.C. Hockey League season, Rylan Ferster considers every game within the Interior Division the rest of the way to be an important one.
Two more are on the schedule this weekend as the West Kelowna Warriors take on the rival Salmon Arm Silverbacks in a home-and-home set.
The Warriors and ‘Backs face off Friday at the Shaw Centre, before meeting for a rematch on Halloween night at Royal LePage Place.
Just two points separates the second-place Silverbacks (10-3-2-0) and third-place Warriors (9-5-0-2) heading into the two-game series.
“When you have a home-and-home, it doesn’t matter who the teams are, it makes for some good hockey,” said Ferster, the Warriors coach and GM. “To play a team twice in two nights, it can be fun…and it can also be not so fun because all is not forgotten when you meet the second time.
“They’re a very good team, they’ve got a good record and rightfully so, I think they have the best goaltender (Angus Redmond) in our league,” Ferster said of Salmon Arm. “We’ll need to play well.”
The Warriors are coming off a pair of wins on the weekend, 3-2 over the Vipers Friday in Vernon, then 4-2 over the Victoria Grizzlies on Sunday afternoon at home.
And while Ferster was happy to get all four points, falling behind 2-0 early in both games is a trend the head coach doesn’t want his team to get accustomed to.
“We had to chase the game on both nights and that’s not the way you want to play,” said Ferster. “It’s a credit to the guys to come back and win and they did a nice job both nights, but we need to clean up our starts.”
Meanwhile, Saturday’s game at LePage comes with a special Halloween promotion.
All fans wearing a costume will be admitted to the game free of charge.
Face off is at 7 p.m.
