
The West Kelowna Warriors remain unbeaten in regulation time when they don the peach sweaters.
To recognize their neighbours to the south in what has become an annual tradition, the Warriors became the Peachland Warriors for one night Friday. And, what a night it was.
The Warriors rattled off their fourth win in a row and fifth in six starts since returning from the Christmas break - a 2-1 nail-biter over the visiting Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The team is 3-0-1-0 in four games under the Peachland banner.
Sam LeDrew provided all the offence the Warriors would need on this night while Bor Glavic was lights out again as he has been since joining the team after Christmas.
Glavic stopped 28 shots to improve his record to 5-0 and lower his goals against average to a sparkling 1.72.
“He’s been amazing, 5-0. He’s been completely reliable and absolutely outstanding in the net,” said LeDrew.
He says Glavic gives the team the confidence to play their game.
“100 per cent. He gives us a little free will to play our game, make plays, be creative out there because we know Bor is going to stop 30 shots a night.”
While Glavic was getting the job done at one end, LeDrew was doing it at the other, scoring both goals, his 15th and 16th of the season.
Nicknamed the “Stillwater Sniper,” the native of Stillwater NS opened the scoring, redirecting Nathan Drapeau’s point shot 15 minutes into the first period.
The Silverbacks tied it on a pretty two-on-one later in the first and, after a scoreless second, LeDrew produced the winner nearly six minutes into the third with a hard, rising wrist shot to the far corner from the left faceoff circle.
A goal scorer's goal for sure.
“I saw Philly (Philip Monnich Hagen) crossing over the blueline. I went behind him, saw a ton of space and he made a great behind-the-back pass to me.
“That’s kind of my specialty shot, toe-drag release. I pulled it in, made my shot and it ended up beating the goalie.”
Glavic and the five skaters in front of him did the rest, keeping the Silverbacks at bay, especially over the final 90 seconds when the Silverbacks had a six-on-four advantage with the goalie on the bench and Jack Farrell in the penalty box.
The Warriors have been finding ways to win close games on this current streak as opposed to earlier in the season when they were finding ways to lose these types of games.
“Earlier in the year we had some issues in net probably, we had some issues on the back end and, like I said you can look at the roster any which way and right now I like the guys because they’re buying in,” said head coach Simon Ferguson.
It’s a sentiment newcomer Ben Miller, playing in just his fourth game Friday, has also noticed.
I think the biggest thing since I stepped in here is we’re buying in as a team a little bit better,” said Miller.
“The guys are starting to understand what their roles are and what they have to do to win.
“It doesn’t always have to be the prettiest but I think we’re finding ways to win where we don’t have to outscore teams 8-6, we can win the 4-2 games.”
Over this latest stretch, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 19-14.
The current streak has allowed the Warriors to move into seventh in the Interior, three points in back of sixth place Cranbrook and two up on Okotoks.
They close out their five-game homestand Saturday when the Sherwook Park Crusaders come to town.