Photo: Contributed - Pure Life Photography

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks found a go-ahead goal with 1:34 remaining to defeat the West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday night. 

After suffering a 4-1 defeat to the ‘Backs in West Kelowna the night before, the Warriors had a much better showing in the rematch. 

Playing his second game as a Warrior, Steven Myland also had a much stronger performance in net.

“I thought I played pretty well,” says Myland, the Warriors’ new recruit. 

“I knew I needed to prove something, knew I needed to play well for the boys but, unfortunately we couldn’t get the win tonight.”

Brennan Clark opened the scoring with a powerplay goal for the Warriors five minutes into the first period. 

That 1-0 lead held until early in the third, when the Silverbacks took the lead on tallies from Evan Anderson and Alex Gillies. 

Reid Simmonds found the equalizer with seven minutes remaining, but the Silverbacks retook the lead for good when a Mitch Ferguson drive deflected off a Warrior and past Myland. Shane Hanna then added a 5-on-3 marker to clinch the 4-2 victory. 

“I thought we played really well," says Myland, when asked of his team’s effort overall. 

“We crashed hard on the net and had a lot of chances. On most nights if we play like that we’re going to win.”

West Kelowna now heads into the Christmas break on a three-game losing streak.  However, the team hopes to salvage some momentum from a strong road game, despite the loss. 

The holiday will also be a short one for the team. Players are expected back in town on Boxing Day, with a huge home-and-home series set for Dec. 27th and 28th against Penticton.