Vipers @ Warriors - February 3rd Game Recap

West Kelowna had a pair of 3rd period goals in a great hockey game at Royal Lepage Place. The Warriors still lose the Season Series to the Vernon Vipers by a 4-3 total but must be pleased with the result tonight as the playoff picture looms larger on their minds every given night.

Here is what I saw tonight:

• Power-play - The Warriors were given 7 power-play opportunities and only capitalized once, on a 5 on 3 in the 3rd when they opened the scoring. It was West Kelowna's 3rd two-man advantage of the night and about time they capitalized. Rylan Ferster called his time-out and had almost a minute with the unit as referees explained the penalty (Goalie Interference to Colten McCarthy after hitting Stephen Heslop when he played the puck). Liam Blackburn had the goal after good puck movement
• Penalty Kill - The Warriors PK Units received a boost with Brett Mennear back in the line-up but West Kelowna has been doing a solid job down a man in recent games. They have killed off 24 of the last 27 penalties, including 4 perfect nights including all 3 of the recent 3-game road trip.
• Stephen Heslop - The AP goaltender made his 2nd start for the Warriors after Andy Desautels was scratched with the flu. He didn't need to be overly spectacular but dealt with some traffic and made 34 saves for his first BCHL win and shutout. This also marked the 5th time this season that a Warriors goaltender has recorded his 1st BCHL win, which has to be some kind of league record I'm sure. (Scott Patton, Michael Lenko, Brett Huber, Jordan Reynolds, and Heslop)  It was also the 2nd time that a Warriors AP has gotten his 1st BCHL win in shutout fashion (Reynolds and Heslop)
• The Flu - Getting to the rink tonight and hearing that the Warriors would be without Desautels, Jordan Masters, and Kristian Blumenschein was a bit of a cause for concern, plus the fact it wasn't known if guys like Liam Blackburn were going to play either as a bug hit the team. The 16 skaters that did play did so admirably, as it wasn't even noticeable that West Kelowna only had 5 defensemen on the back-end. Kyle Marino filled in up front and saw some good minutes as he added size to that forward group for the 5th game in a row.

With the playoff picture still murky, the Warriors head to Salmon Arm to take on the Silverbacks Friday at the Shaw Center. Catch the action by making the drive, or tune in on Fast Hockey, at 95.1 FM WDCR, or online at www.wdcr.ca

Let me know what you think of tonight's recap and what else you thought on tonight's hockey game in the comments section below.

-Kyle Anderson