Western Canada Cup PREVIEW

It's been six days since the West Kelowna Warriors captured their first ever Fred Page Cup as BCHL Championship, and it's been a busy stretch of time for the hockey club. It all started on Monday night as over 200 Warriors fans came out to the Royal LePage Place courtyard and honoured the BCHL Champs with loud cheers and some great eats, and got their chance at a meet and greet and grabbing autographs from all the players.

After a practice on Tuesday, the boys loaded up the bus (basically as full as it could be loaded) for the 1500+ kilometre trek to Estevan, Saskatchewan. After an overnight stop in Medicine Hat on Wednesday night, the Warriors arrived at their hotel around 4:30 PM and began to settle in. A bus-legs skate got the Warriors back on the ice at the secondary sheet at Affinity Place.

The Warriors first official practice took place Today at 1:00 pm, as the full team hit the ice for an up-tempo practice. It was good to see the boys on the Affinity Place ice, although conditions were apparently a little rough. Talking with a member of the host organization, staff from the Brandt Centre in Regina and Rexall Place in Edmonton will be in Estevan tonight to manage the ice for the entire week of the Western Canada Cup.

The entire staff here in Estevan has been phenomenal from the moment we checked in to the hotel, to all the times we've been at the rink as well. We had to apologize though earlier today for causing the rink staff a little more work at the end of practice. 

So now that we've gotten what we've been up to out of the way, it's time to start looking at what's ahead. West Kelowna will open up their tournament against the host Estevan Bruins, who have not played a game since March 27th when they dropped Game 6 to the Nipawin Hawks. The Battle Cries Blog will have Game Day Previews and Post-Game Recaps for each and every game. First though, is the overall Preview of the event including a breakdown here of some different stats and how they got here.

Team Records - W/L/OTL/SOL:
Brooks Bandits (AJHL) - 49-9-2-0 (1st overall AJHL)
Estevan Bruins (HOST) - 36-17-3-2 (2nd Sherwood Division, 4th overall SJHL)
Melfort Mustangs (SJHL) - 39-14-3-2 (1st Sherwood Division, 2nd overall SJHL)
Portage Terriers (MJHL) - 52-6-2 (1st overall MJHL)
West Kelowna (BCHL) - 38-17-2 + 1 tie (2nd Interior Division, 3rd overall BCHL)

Playoff Series
Brooks Bandits
First Round Bye
Win over Canmore 4-0
Win over Camrose 4-0
Win over Spruce Grove 4-1 (AJHL GAS DRIVE CUP CHAMPIONS)

Estevan Bruins
Lost to Nipawin 4-2

Melfort Mustangs
Win over La Ronge 4-0
Win over Nipawin 4-3
Win over Flin Flon 4-2 (SJHL CANALTA CUP CHAMPIONS)

Portage Terriers
Win over Selkirk 4-0
Win over Winnipeg 4-0
Win over Steinbach 4-1 (MJHL TURNBULL CUP CHAMPIONS)

West Kelowna Warriors
Win over Salmon Arm 4-2
Win over Penticton 4-2
3-3 Record in 3rd round double round-robin, advanced to League Final
Win over Chilliwack 4-2 (BCHL FRED PAGE CUP CHAMPIONS)

Roster Breakdown:
There are a few interesting stats to look at when it comes to breaking down team rosters. Here is a look at the Average Age, Height, and Weight of the teams in the tournament. Keep in mind that Saskatchewan and Manitoba are allowed to have 9 players born in 1995 in their lineups.

TEAM	AGE
ESTEVAN	19.63
MELFORT	19.52
WEST KELOWNA	19.38
BROOKS	18.96
PORTAGE	18.24

TEAM	HEIGHT
WEST KELOWNA	72.6
PORTAGE	72.6
MELFORT	71.8
BROOKS	71.4
ESTEVAN	70.6

TEAM	WEIGHT
WEST KELOWNA	191.8
PORTAGE	186.9
ESTEVAN	183.3
BROOKS	182.7
MELFORT	181.2

NOTES: Height is in Inches, Weight in pounds. Height/Weight includes all skaters on WCC roster. Age includes all players on roster current age, divided by number of players. The Warriors top the Height and Weight category, and are the third-oldest team in the tournament, despite being only allowed to have six 20-year-old players on their roster.

SPECIAL TEAMS
REGULAR SEASON
	PPGF	ADV	PP%	SHGA	PPGA	TSH	PK%	SHGF
Brooks	78	341	22.9%	6	46	298	84.6%	12
Estevan	39	246	15.9%	8	55	253	78.3%	10
Melfort	54	296	18.2%	4	45	308	85.4%	10
Portage	57	232	24.6%	1	27	241	88.8%	4
West Kelowna	67	272	24.6%	11	49	291	83.2%	14
POSTSEASON
	PPGF	PPO	PP%	SHGA	PPGA	PKO	PK%	SHGF
Brooks	19	77	24.7%	0	4	58	93.1%	2
Estevan	7	33	21.2%	1	6	24	75.0%	0
Melfort	18	92	19.6%	2	20	78	74.4%	1
Portage	11	55	20.0%	0	9	63	85.7%	4
West Kelowna	21	81	25.9%	0	14	102	86.3%	4

The Warriors enter the tournament with the best Postseason power play, and the second-ranked penalty kill. 

How to follow:

All the Warriors games will be broadcast on WIN at www.mixlr.com/bchlwarriors, starting with the pre-game show 20 minutes prior to puck drop. For tomorrow night, that's 6:40 local time, or 5:40 back in West Kelowna.

All the games of the tournament are also broadcast on Fast Hockey, but commentary will be provided by the local committee, and not by Kyle Anderson. Your best bet if you're watching, is to have the game on Fast Hockey, and the Audio from WIN, and hope that the delay isn't too bad, or that viewers can sync them together.

Check back tomorrow for the Game 1 Preview.