September 12th @ Merritt PREVIEW

The West Kelowna Warriors will make the 90 minute trip to Merritt tonight for the second half of a home and home with the Centennials.

Last nights game featured an early 3-0 lead for the Cents in the first, before the Warriors got a goal with 5 seconds left in the frame. At the buzzer, Ryan Forbes would go after Kyle Marino, earning 7 minutes in penalties for his troubles, and putting the Warriors on the long power-play.

The Warriors scored 3 times with the advantage, and once more just after to open a 5-3 lead out-shooting the Centennials 24-4 in the frame.

The teams traded goals in the 3rd, as the Warriors saw 6 different players score, and 3 get their first BCHL goals including Rookies Jake Harrison and Jake Tesarowski, as well as Paul Lovsin, who played in the AJHL the last two seasons.

Tonight's Keys

• Discipline - The Warriors took the first 3 penalties of last night's game, but I felt that they were disciplined when they needed to be. For the most part, the West Kelowna players had no interest in both Gavin Gould or Nick Florentino, as they were constantly mixing it up after the whistle. If the Warriors can stay out of those scenarios, they should be alright again.
• Special Teams - The Warriors went 3 for 6 on the power-play in last night's game, although the boxscore reads 3 for 4. The 3 goals on a 5-minute major make it so that power-play along was 3 for 4, and the Warriors didn't score on the other two. Just a glitch in the scoring system.
• Goaltending - Daniel Mannella was strong at times for the Warriors last night, and you can't really blame him on any of the goals last night. Two off of turnovers back to back, a nice power-play goal, and one where the D-Zone coverage fell apart a bit and didn't pick up the trailer who buried the rebound.

Stat Pack

Merritt – 0-1 HOME – 0-0  ROAD – 0-1  Top Scorers -      Henry Cleghorn (1G, 1A) -      Cole Arcuri (2A) -      6 others with 1 point GF – 4 GA – 6 PP – 1 for 5 (20%) PK – 3 for 6 (50%)	West Kelowna – 1-0 HOME – 1-0 ROAD – 0-0 Top Scorers -   Jake Harrison - Paul Lovsin - Kyle Marino - Jake Tesarowski (all 1G, 1A) -  Reed Gunville (2A) GF – 6 GA – 4 PP – 3 for 6 (50%) PK – 4 for 5 (80%) Next Game – Tuesday, Sept 15th Vs. Trail – 7 PM Royal Lepage Place
Head-to-Head Lifetime – West Kelowna leads 42-13-1-4 West Kelowna is 19-7-0-3 in Merritt 2014/2015 Head to Head – West Kelowna went 2-2-0-3 vs. Merritt West Kelowna went 0-1-0-2 in Merritt in 2014/2015