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The West Kelowna Warriors made a valiant 3rd period comeback but couldn’t complete it fully as they drop a 4-3 decision to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Tuesday night at Royal LePage Place.

The Warriors had a great jump to the game, outshooting the ‘Backs by a 17-9 margin in the opening frame and capitalizing with a late period goal at the 18:23 mark. Connor Sodergren entered the zone and fed a pass to Stephen Kleysen, who rifled a shot off the back bar for a gorgeous tally for his 3rd goal of the season and a 1-0 lead after one period.

The Silverbacks had an answer just inside the minute mark of the second period, 45 seconds in to be exact, as Jared Turcotte fired in a glove side shot on the power play to give the ‘Backs a 1-1 tie.

Salmon Arm took their first lead at the 13:25 mark of the 2nd period as they outshot the Warriors 19-10 in the frame and it showed on the scoreboard. Nathan Iannone whacked in his 1st BCHL goal with a chop from the slot that beat the blocker side of Warriors netminder Nik Amundrud right off the face-off for the 2-1 lead for the visitors.

The ‘Backs tallied twice in the third period and it started with a goal at the 3:40 mark on a fumble behind the Warriors net that Justin Wilson capitalized on for the 3-1 lead.

Wilson was back at it again at the 6:00 mark of the 3rd period on an uncharacteristic goal against for Amundrud. Wilson’s right circle shot crept under the pad of the Warriors goaltender for the Silverbacks 4-1 lead.

Cue the Warriors comeback bid at the 10:36 mark of the final frame as Michael Ryan’s slot shot hit Silverback goaltender Nic Tallarico in the mask, turning him around and leaving an open goal for Braiden Epp to slide the puck into for his 8th goal of the campaign and a 4-2 lead for Salmon Arm.

The Warriors couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play towards the end of the 3rd period but at the 18:48 mark, Michael Ryan made the ending dramatic as his right circle shot slipped through Tallarico on the glove side for his 4th goal of the season and cut the deficit to one at 4-3.

Despite firing 43 shots on goal and 15 in the 3rd, the Warriors couldn’t quite find the equalizer despite their best efforts and dropped a 4-3 score to the Silverbacks. Warriors netminder Nik Amundrud made 29 shots on 33 attempts toward goal while Silverback goaltender Nic Tallarico stopped 40 of 43 shots for his 3rd victory in a row.

FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Silverbacks

SHOTS ON GOAL: 43-33 Warriors

PP: Warriors (1/5) Silverbacks (1/5)

3 STARS:

1. Mitch Skapski (0-0-0)
2. Justin Wilson (2-0-2)
3. Stephen Kleysen (1-0-1)

The Warriors (13-16-0-1) return to action on Friday night as they host the Merritt Centennials (12-12-1-5) to begin a home-and-home set that sees the teams head to Merritt on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:00 PM with tickets available for purchase at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051.

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