Elijiah Barriga notched his second hat trick of the season to reach the 30-goal mark and lead the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to a 5-3 home win over the visiting West Kelowna Warriors.
Barriga opened the scoring two minutes into the first and in the second, Connor Sundquist made it 2-0 ‘Backs before Michael Ryan got the Warriors on the board. Barriga got his second just 47 seconds into the third and after Quin Foreman got the second Warriors tally, Carson Bolduc notched the winner for Salmon Arm.
Stephen Kleysen got the Warriors within one late but Barriga finished his hat trick with an empty-net goal that put it away for Salmon Arm. Nic Tallarico made 36 saves for the win. Salmon Arm will open the playoffs in Trail against the Smoke Eaters on March 3. West Kelowna will host Merritt in their Round 1 opener.
Ben Solin got both Nanaimo Clippers goals in a 2-1 win over the host Victoria Grizzlies in a preview of their opening-round playoff matchup. Cole Pickup got the home side on the board in the first and it remained 1-0 Grizz until 15:09 of the second when Solin got his first of the night. The winner came at 4:15 of the third with Evan DeBrouwer closing the door in net for Nanaimo, making 31 saves for the win.
Overtime settled nothing in Alberni Valley as the Bulldogs and visiting Powell River Kings played to a 5-5 draw. It was 2-2 after one with Kyle Betts opening the scoring for Powell River and Alex Macdonald replying 47 seconds later and Josh Coblenz for the Kings 25 seconds after that. MacDonald tied it again late in the first and in the middle frame, the Kings went up two on goals by Ben Berard and Gavin Rauser but the ‘Dogs responded with tallies from Kyle Kaufmann and Cayden Kraus. Carter Turnbull put the Kings up 5-4 going to the third but Nic Rasovic scored to draw Alberni Valley level again and that’s how it ended. Brian Wilson stopped 40 for the Kings while Brody Claeys turned away 42 for the ‘Dogs.
Brett Stapley scored his first BCHL hat trick to lead the Vernon Vipers to 7-1 home win over the Trail Smoke Eaters. Steven Jandric opened the scoring for the Vipers in the first and after Luke Santerno tied it for Trail, Stapley got his first of the night which would be the winner. In the second, Ryan Brushett and Stapley tallied to make it 4-1 going to the third. Goals from Jandric, Jagger Williamson and Stapley rounded out the scoring. Ty Taylor made 33 saves for the win.
Nic Ponak scored the only goal the Langley Rivermen would need and later added another as the Langley Rivermen downed the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings 7-0. Ponak’s goal at 16:41 of the first was the winner and in the second, Cooper Leitch, Max Kaufman and Ponak added on making it 4-0 going to the third. Kaufman, Andrew Dumaresque and Cam Ginnetti scored in the final frame and Braedon Fleming made 20 saves for his second shutout in as many starts.
