Millionaires One Win Away From Facing Vipers:

Warriors close the deal while Mills score big on road

Friday, March 5, 2010 - Submitted by BCHL Media

Less than a week after looking shaky in their 2010 postseason debut, the Westside Warriors looked well prepared for the pressures of playoff hockey with a series-clinching 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the Trail Smoke Eaters at Royal LePage Place.

It was only last Friday when the Smokies rolled to a 6-3 victory in Game 1, but Westside reverted to defensively sound hockey in winning four consecutive games while allowing just eight total goals against.

Alex Grieve opened the scoring for the Warriors on Thursday, converting on a power-play just 1:53 into regulation. That 1-0 lead held up through the intermission, but Trail got on the board with goals from Nick Sandor and Matt Wilkins in the second that had the visitors ahead after 40 minutes.

With the game on the line, Westside received the offence they needed on back-to-back unassisted goals from Tyler Krause and Dru Morrison early in the third and were able to hold on until Trevor Bailey scored into an empty net with less than a minute remaining.

The series win sets Westside up for a second round series against the Penticton Vees, who were impressive in a sweep of seventh-seeded Merritt. The match-up between the conference's second and third place finishers is set to begin in Penticton on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, the Quesnel Millionaires put in a powerful offensive performance on Thursday night to grab a 3-2 series lead over Salmon Arm with a lopsided 8-1 victory.

After a scoreless first period, the SilverBacks took a brief lead early in the second on a David Killip power-play marker. But the Mills, who had been outshot and outscored in Games 3 and 4, quickly turned on the jets with a pair of goals from Taylor Holst and singles from Darick Ste-Marie and Tyler French before intermission.

Quesnel then efforted one of their strongest periods of the season in the game's final 20 minutes, scoring four more times while outshooting their hosts by a 15-1 margin. Ste-Marie capped his hat trick with two goals in the span of 5:40 before Chris Kerr and Spencer Graboski converted on late power-play opportunities.

With the victory, Quesnel will have the chance to close out the series with a win on home ice on Friday night. Gametime is 7:30 PM.