Series Preview - Warriors vs Vees

The West Kelowna Warriors will enter the BCHL Interior Division Playoffs as the #4 seed and take on the #1 Penticton Vees in a Best of 7 series starting Tuesday March 3rd in Penticton.


The Warriors slid into that final playoff spot with a 6-2 win over Surrey on Saturday, after the Vees beat the Silverbacks in OT. The Warriors 66 points edged out the Silverbacks 65 points. Had the 2 teams been tied, the Silverbacks had the tie-breakers and would have taken the 4th spot.

West Kelowna enters the playoffs having won their last 5 games, and a 6-1-0-2 month of February. The Vees are winners of their last 6 games, and a 7-2-1-0 February. There was a gap of 27 points in the regular season standings, but the Warriors have been playing playoff style hockey for the last month just trying to get in, and hopefully that is what will help them in the early part of this season.

Looking at the season series between these two teams this year, the Vees took it by a 5-2 margin, out scoring the Warriors 32-18 including wins of 7-2 on December 20th and 8-4 on January 20th. The Warriors 2 victories were picked up in back to back match-ups at the SOEC, when West Kelowna won 3-2 on November 5th, and 4-3 on November 29th.

Here are the head to head player stats for the season series.

#	PLAYER	G	A	PTS		#	PLAYER	G	A	PTS
5	Braeden Jones	1	1	2		2	Dante Fabbro	0	3	3
6	Rylan Yaremko	0	1	1		3	Mike Lee	1	3	4
7	Andrew Johnson	0	3	3		4	Gabe Bast	0	3	3
8	Kristian Blumenschein	0	1	1		10	Miles Gendron	0	2	2
9	Brett Mennear	1	2	3		11	Patrick Newell	5	4	9
11	Jason Cotton	1	2	3		12	Matt Serratore	2	0	2
12	Brayden Gelsinger	2	4	6		15	Jack Ramsey	1	3	4
14	Tanner Campbell	1	1	2		17	Steen Cooper	2	3	5
15	Josh Bly	2	0	2		19	Cody Depourcq	1	4	5
18	Kylar Hope	1	1	2		21	Demico Hannoun	4	5	9
19	Jordan Masters	0	0	0		24	Shayne Gwinner	0	3	3
20	Hunter Zandee	0	1	1		27	Jarod Hilderman	0	2	2
21	Bennett Huber	0	0	0		28	Mitch Newsome	0	2	2
22	Tyler Kunz	0	1	1		48	Connor Chartier	4	0	4
24	Jonathan Desbiens	4	1	5		53	Patrick Sexton	1	1	2
25	Nick Rutigliano	0	1	1		67	Dakota Conroy	2	3	5
26	Liam Blackburn	2	3	5		71	Tyson Jost	4	2	6
27	Kyle Marino	0	0	0		74	Cam Amantea	0	1	1
28	Mac Ferner	0	0	0		77	Lewis Zerter-Gossage	2	8	10
						91	Riley Alferd	2	3	5
Scott Patton - 0-1, 4.70 GAA, .815 SV%						Brendan Barry - 1-0, 3.00, .857 SV%
Andy Desautels - 2-3, 4.31 GAA, .882 SV%						Hunter Miska - 4-2, 2.51 GAA, .912 SV%
Power-Play - 6-22 (27.2%)						Power-Play - 9-28 (32.1%)
Penalty Kill - 19-28 (67.9%)						Penalty Kill - 16-22 (72.7%)

Looking at the overall season numbers for each team in this series, here are the Top 3 scorers:

West Kelowna:

• Liam Blackburn (96) - 22 Goals, 51 Assists for 73 Points in 55 Games
• Jason Cotton (95) - 27 Goals, 31 Assists for 58 Points in 58 Games
• Brayden Gelsinger (95) - 18 Goals, 38 Assists for 56 Points in 56 Games
• Gelsinger picked up 12 Goals, 25 Assists for 37 Points in 39 Games since being acquired by the Warriors from Cowichan Valley on November 3rd, 2014.

Penticton:

• Patrick Newell (96 - 16 Goals, 31 Assists for 47 Points in 56 Games
• Lewis Zerter-Gossage (95) - 18 Goals, 28 Assists for 46 Points in 57 Games
• Riley Alferd (95) - 18 Goals, 28 Assists for 46 Points in 58 Games

In Goal, the Warriors played 11 games this season with an AP goaltender as the starter, as both Andy Desautels and Scott Patton battled injury. Patton has been the go-to guy as of late, winning the last 3 games of the season for his hockey club.

In Penticton, it's all about Hunter Miska, although his back-up Brendan Barry sports pretty good numbers as well. Miska finished the season as the leagues #1 in GAA and Save %.

Head to Head Goalie Stats:

West Kelowna:

• Scott Patton - 0-1, 4.70 GAA, .815 SV%
• Andy Desautels - 2-3, 4.31 GAA, .882 SV%

Penticton

• Brendan Barry - 1-0, 3.00 GAA, .857 SV%
• Hunter Miska - 4-2, 2.51 GAA, .912 SV%

Other Statistics:

Going through the entire season of statistics for both teams there are a few things that jump out.

• Penticton is 31-4-2-2 when they score 1st, Warriors are 22-7-0-4
• The Vees got 30 or more shots in 50 of 58 games, while giving up 30 shots only 14 times
• When Penticton scores 3 or more goals, they are 40-1-1, which is easily explainable looking at the netminders.

Preview:

Series Schedule: (All Games available on Fast Hockey, or audio-only at www.wdcr.ca)

Game 1 - Tuesday March 3rd @ SOEC - 7 PM

Game 2 - Wednesday March 4th @ SOEC - 7 PM

Game 3 - Friday March 6th @ RLP - 7 PM

Game 4 - Saturday March 7th @ RLP - 7 PM

Game 5 - Monday March 9th @ SOEC - 7 PM *If Necessary

Game 6 - Tuesday March 10th @ RLP - 7 PM *If Necessary

Game 7 - Wednesday March 11th @ SOEC - 7 PM *If Necessary

It's 1st vs 4th in the 1st round where a team that barely gets into the playoffs goes up against the #1 team in the BCHL and the #6 ranked team in the country. People have already written this series off as a 4 game sweep by the Vees, but knowing the character and staff inside the West Kelowna locker room that is nowhere near their minds.

The playoffs are a new season, they always are and its usually during the 1st round where upsets occur. The young men in both rooms have played playoff games before and know what it takes. Even the Warriors young guys have that experience. Both Kristian Blumenschein and Tanner Campbell finished 3rd in Canada for Midget hockey last season, same for Tyson Jost and Brendan Barry of the Vees. Game 1 will be the one that settles the nerves, but the unexpected could occur in that first 10 minutes before everyone settles in.

For the Warriors, it's going to be about getting traffic to the goal crease of the Vees, and get in the face of Hunter Miska to take his eyes away. The Warriors did this effectively in their two wins early this season, and it has been a talking point in recent games as well.

West Kelowna needs to keep the game simple. It's playoff hockey which means blocking shots and sacrificing yourself. Sure they may be a fancy goal or two, but it is the net drives and rebound finding that will be important. They will need to help out their goaltenders in finding those loose pucks and putting them out of harms way.

Special Teams could play a big part in this series as well, as it did during the regular season. West Kelowna scored the 2nd most goals in the BCHL in the regular season, with Jason Cotton having 15 of them. The Vees power-play sits in 10th, while they have the #1 PK in the BCHL. West Kelowna is ranked #3 when a man short.

At the end of it all, this is going to be a good series between two rivals that should provide entertaining hockey until the final buzzer of whichever game it takes for one team to win four games. 

Comments, Predictions, etc. are welcome below.