Threes were wild for the West Kelowna Warriors Sunday, April 25.
Third-string goalie Austin Madge made 33 saves in his Warriors debut as West Kelowna blanked the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 3-0 in B.C. Hockey League pod play at Vernon’s Kal Tire Place Arena.
The win snapped a five-game pod losing streak against Salmon Arm for the Warriors.
The first frame started with a Warriors goal midway through the period. Tyson Jugnauth would fan on a slap shot placing the puck right on the stick of Ben Woodhouse who fired a slap shot of his own making no mistake beating Silverbacks goaltender Owen Say making it 1-0 Warriors after one.
The Warriors got off to a great start in the second with an unlikely five-man unit generating some offence. It was a line that consisted of four defencemen and only one forward. Bryden Sinclair would steal the puck away from a Silverbacks forward in his own zone and feed big Skyler Cameron who fired a slap shot past Say to extend the Warriors’ lead.
Carter Wilkie added an empty-net goal in the third for West Kelowna (6-5-1-1), who pulled to within a point of Salmon Arm (6-5-2-1) in the pod standings.
Say made 20 saves for Salmon Arm.
“We just didn’t really have it [tonight]. We didn’t start on time. We fought the puck all night. We didn’t really create any chances for ourselves. We didn’t even draw a penalty,” said Silverbacks assistant coach Carter Cochrane. “Those games are going to happen and it feels a lot tougher after you lose yesterday and the way we lost yesterday (7-5 to Vernon), but just to evaluate the game as a whole, it’s something that’s going to happen. It happens to every team at different points in the year and with the things we’re dealing with right now, you can’t be too surprised by it.”
West Kelowna returns to action Monday, April 26, with a 7:30 p.m. match-up with the Vernon Vipers, who lead the pod at 8-3-1-1. Vernon has won three straight.
Salmon Arm will tangle with the Vipers Wednesday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m.
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