Halfmoon Bay's David Arduin is hoping for a long playoff run with the Westside Warriors, but the Salmon Arm Silverbacks seemingly have something to say about those hopes.
Heading into play Wednesday night, Salmon Arm held a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Interior Conference semifinal series with the Warriors. Game four was Wednesday in Salmon Arm (results were past deadline). Game five is tonight (Friday) in Westside with game six tomorrow (Saturday) in Salmon Arm. A seventh and deciding game would be Tuesday night in Westside.
Westside had a first round bye in the playoffs spending a little over two weeks on the sidelines waiting for Salmon Arm to finish its first round series with Prince George.
The Warriors were the hottest team in the British Columbia Hockey League heading into the playoffs on a blistering 21-3-0-1 pace in its last 25 games.
Arduin was a big part of that since a late season trade from the Trail Smoke Eaters.
"Salmon Arm will be tough. We split the last two games of the season. When you're down to the top four teams any team that you play at this point is going to be tough," Arduin said last week before the start of the series. "I'm not concerned by the bye and the layoff. It all depends on what you do with the bye. You can take the two weeks and just go through the motions or you can prepare really well like we have. We took a few days off, then got right back to work."
Arduin had three assists in the game one 4-2 win. Game two was a 5-3 loss and game three was a 3-0 loss in Salmon Arm.
"We have two solid goalies and four lines that can score - I think we're in a great situation," he added.
