Warriors drop their fourth in a row to Coquitlam Saturday

Photo: Wayne Moore

Warrior Luke Devlin is denied in close

The West Kelowna Warriors continue to lose ground to their pursuers in the BC Hockey League's Interior Conference.

The Warriors dropped their fourth in a row Saturday, falling 5-2 to the visiting Coquitlam Express.

The loss, coupled with Salmon Arm's 3-2 win over Wenatchee drops the Warriors into fourth in the interior, a point in back of the Silverbacks. Prince George remains two back after losing 2-1 in Vernon.

Unlike Friday when they fell behind 3-0 to Prince George in the opening minutes, the Warriors came out with some fire, but were unable to solve emergency starter Brady Smith in the early going.

Smith flew into town late Saturday afternoon from Lethbridge after their regular number one netminder Adam Manji was injured midway through Friday's game in Trail.

The 17-year-old who saw some action with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes had played 13 games with the Express earlier in the season before joining the Hurricanes.

As they have done throughout the four game slide, the Warriors fell behind by multiple goals before finally getting on the board.

Blake Setter gave the visitors a 1-0 lead 6:32 into the game when he found a bouncing puck near the crease and chipped it over Warriors starter Angelo Zol.

The Warriors have now been outscored 10-1 in the opening period over the last four games.

Liam Tanner made it 2-0 1:23 into the second when he roofed a backhand high to the glove side after the puck found him at the bottom of the left circle.

The Warriors finally found a way past Smith a couple of minutes later when the puck came to Nic Porchetta in the slot and his quick shot beat Smith to the glove side.

Chris Duclair's speed and tenacity got the Warriors even. While killing a penalty, Duclair won a battle for a loose puck behind the Express net and beat Smith to the other post.

But, as was the case the previous night, the Warriors were unable to get the next goal after battling back to even terms.

On the same power play, the Express got the go ahead goal and eventual game winner when Coco Armstrong flipped a backhand top shelf from in tight.

Evan Brown later in the second and Michael Rubin 3:30 into the third with a seeing-eye shot through a screen closed out the scoring.

The Warriors had their chances when the game was still tight, but Smith shut the door. His biggest save, an incredible glove grab off Brennan Nelson who had a wide open net to shoot at before Smith somehow dove to his left to take away a sure goal.

Special teams were definitely a factor Saturday. The Express were a perfect two-for-two with the man advantage while the Warriors were denied on all five of their opportunities.

Zol faced 40 shots in the Warriors net while Smith stopped 33 of 35 directed his way.

Things won't get any easier for a Warriors team still without four of their top six defencemen due to injury.

The high-flying Cranbrook Bucks roll into town for a St. Patrick's Day showdown next Friday before the top team in the Coastal Conference, the Nanaimo Clippers pay a visit Saturday.