Warriors sink Rivermen, earn sweep

Marcus Basara scored three times, including the game winner, as the West Kelowna Warriors completed a weekend sweep of the Langley Rivermen, beating the visitors 4-3 at Royal LePage Place Saturday.

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

Langley netminder Darren Hogg takes a jolt from teammate Thomas Nitsche during the second period of a 4-3 loss to the West Kelowna Warriors.

One night earlier the Warriors upended the Rivermen 4-1 in Langley.

Basara's natural hat-trick helped the Warriors battle back from a 2-0 hole to win back-to-back game for the first time since the opening weekend of the season. It was also the first time in 11 games the Warriors have managed to win a one-goal game.

"It feels great to win a one goal game. I think it's a matter of doing the things we've been doing," says Basara.

"We were telling ourselves we are going to win that one goal game. It's going to come to us, the bounces are going to go our way. I think that's what happened tonight so it feels even better."

Despite outplaying the Rivermen the Warriors found themselves down 2-0 on a pair of shorthanded goals from Derek Sutliffe.

The Warriors kept plugging away and eventually got on the board when Brett McKinnon scored his sixth on the power-play to cut the deficit in half.

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

Reid Simmonds dumps an unidentified Langley skater during the second period Saturday

Ambrose Firkus did all the work on the game tying goal. Firkus broke in quickly down the left wing and, instead of driving to the net, stopped, looked for a trailer and found Basara who beat Darren Hogg from a sharp angle.

"He's slick. He does a lot of good things," says Warriors coach Rylan Ferster of Firkus.

"He was a high end midget player last year in Alberta and he sees things skilled guys only see. He's a special young player."

Basara gave the Warriors their first lead of the night 35 seconds later.

He would complete the hat-trick with a blast from the point midway through the third just 21 seconds before Langley got one back to close the gap to one.

Basara, who now has a team leading eight goals on the season, had gone two games without a goal despite numerous chances.

"It feels good, especially with some of the games of late. Things haven't really been going in," says Basara of his three goal night.

"But it feels good to kind of have a break out night and help our team win a close one."

Ferster says his players never gave up when they found themselves down 2-0 midway through the game.

"When you give up the two shorthanded like that it wasn't like we played that bad, those were just tough breaks," says Ferster.

"I thought we were playing well. Credit to the kids, they stuck with it and we were able to get the win."

The Warriors managed just the one goal on five power-play chances while the league's number two ranked penalty killing unit held Langley at bay on their three opportunities with the man advantage.

West Kelowna outshot the visitors 45-23.

The Warriors now hit the road for four of their next five, including stops in Merritt and Salmon Arm next weekend.

Their lone home game over that stretch is a special 11:00 a.m. start against the Penticton Vees Tuesday, October 23.