The West Kelowna Warriors will look to keep their championship hopes alive tonight (Nov. 13) when they take on the Vernon Vipers in the Okanagan Cup Semi-Finals.
With second place in the Okanagan Cup regular-play standings secured, the Warriors didn’t want to let their foot off the peddle in their final game against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. The Warriors won 3-1 on Nov.7, with John Evans continuing to fill the net and both goaltenders Johnny Derrick and Zach Bennet standing tall, allowing only three goals in two games combined.
While the Warriors finished strong, they lost Matthew Stienberg for the foreseeable future due to a lower-body injury.
Now, the Okanagan Cup shifts to the semi-final stage as the Warriors face-off against the Vipers in a single-elimination game. The winner of this game will play for the Okanagan Cup Championship on Saturday, Nov. 14 against the winner of Salmon Arm and Penticton.
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The Warriors have swept the Vipers in Okanagan Cup round-robin play but their last three appearances were all one-goal games.
The Vipers have been using the rookie tandem of Kobe Grant and Roan Clark and although they have looked solid during the Okanagan Cup round-robin, MacInnes provides a little bit of confidence for the team ahead of him.
Since the Warriors last played the Vipers, they’ve also added two forwards in Josh Prokop and Tyler Carpendale on loan from their respective WHL teams. The two were able to connect for multi-point weekends against the Vees last week.
Puck drop for the Warriors on Friday will be 7 p.m. from Royal Lepage Place.
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