Warriors 6 - PG 4 RECAP

The long road trip to Prince George is over, as the Warriors overcame a tough start and some interesting decision making to take a 6-4 victory over the Spruce Kings.

With the Warriors on the power play and down 1-0, Jake LeBrun was stopped on a partial break by Stephen Heslop. A rebound attempt knocked the puck under Heslop as the Spruce Kings tried to poke it in. With the puck laying in the crease the whistle blew, and as PG went to argue that the whistle was early, they looked up to see the referee signalling a goal. The Warriors were furious, as the goal light never came on, and the goal judge was seen shaking is head as to say that it never crossed the line. In the end it counted, and the Warriors played a frustrated period that saw them go 0 for 3 on the man advantage.

In the 2nd, the Warriors took some time to get going, but once Rylan Yaremko found the back of the net, they came to life. West Kelowna took a 3-2 lead within a 7 minute stretch, as Kyle Marino deflected a point shot on the power play, and Brett Mennear scored shorthanded. PG scored another late in the frame to tie it up.

After the Warriors took the lead on Kylar Hope's goal directly off the face off from Liam Blackburn, PG got a lucky bounce on an Adam Brubacher point shot that squeaked past Heslop's pad. Kristian Blumenschein scored on the power play to re-take the lead, before Yaremko scored into an empty net.

Game Thoughts:

• In the end, its a huge character win for this hockey club. West Kelowna had not won in Prince George since December 2011, and they had tons of adversity. From a goal allowed that may have never crossed a line, to numerous stoppages and conferences between officials, the Warriors finally curbed their frustrations when Rylan Yaremko got them on the board. Hard work and a power play that finally clicked after going on an oh-for-14 stretch propelled them to victory.
• The win was Franchise Regular Season Win #300, so here's to all the former players, coaches, and staff who helped reach this milestone. It means a lot to be a Warrior, as has been proven time and time again, and it was a special feeling to pick up the victory.

Nov 18th @ Prince George PREVIEW

The West Kelowna Warriors make the long trek north for tonight's game against the Prince George Spruce Kings.

The Warriors are coming off a winless weekend, dropping games to Penticton and Salmon Arm. The Warriors were happy with their efforts against Penticton, just failed to be able to beat Anthony Brodeur after period 1. Saturday in Salmon Arm, the Warriors saw a 3-1 lead evaporate as the 'Backs scored in the final minute of the 2nd and first minute of the 3rd.

West Kelowna fell 7 points back of Salmon Arm for 2nd in the Interior with the losses, and may now need to turn their focus to staying ahead of the Vernon Vipers, who trail the Warriors by 3 points for 3rd. Vernon has played 2 more games. Those two teams will square off on Friday at Royal Lepage Place as West Kelowna kicks off their Parent Weekend.

The trip to Prince George is not an easy one, and the Warriors have not had success at the Coliseum the last few years. Since PG moved to the Mainland Division, the Warriors have not won on the road there, and have only won once since 2011, when they went 1-3-0-1 in the Spruce Kings last year in the Interior.

Liam Blackburn returns to his hometown for maybe the final time as he still looks for his 50th goal as a Warrior. He has been held point less in the last two games after starting the season with points in 20 straight games.

In goal, expect Stephen Heslop to get the start tonight. Heslop has won his last two starts against Nanaimo and Vernon.

Garrett Forster will be out of the lineup again tonight after the hit on Friday from Domenic Masellis against Penticton. He is questionable for this weekend's games.

Stats Pack

Prince George – 6-16-0-2 HOME – 3-6-0-0 ROAD – 3-10-0-2 Top Scorers Adam Brubacher (6 G, 11 A) Corey Hoffman (6 G, 11 A) Jake LeBrun (10 G, 3 A) GF – 52 GA – 98 PP – 11th – 17 for 91 (18.7%) PK – 16th – 80 for 108 (74.1%)	West Kelowna – 12-8-0-2 HOME – 9-4-0-1 ROAD – 3-4-0-1 Top Scorers Liam Blackburn (10 G, 17 A) Jonathan Desbiens (12 G, 10 A) Garrett Forster (8 G, 11 A) GF – 75 GA – 71 PP – 3rd – 23 for 95 (24.2%) PK – 10th – 98 for 122 (80.3%) Next Game – Friday November 20th vs Vernon – Royal Lepage Place 7 PM
Head-to-Head Lifetime – West Kelowna is 23-11-2-5 All-Time vs Prince George Warriors are 8-8-1-5 in Prince George This Season Head to Head: Warriors are 1-0.

Nov 14th @ Salmon Arm PREVIEW

The West Kelowna Warriors head to Salmon Arm tonight for a big divisional game against the Silverbacks. Salmon Arm enjoyed a nice 3rd period comeback last night against the Merritt Centennials, while the Warriors were the 21st straight victim of the Penticton Vees.

The Warriors lead the season series 2-1 over the 'Backs, thanks to back-to-back wins on Halloween Weekend. West Kelowna picked up an overtime win on October 30th, before picking up a 3-1 win on the 31st, chasing Angus Redmond.

Brandon Kegler made 21 saves in relief on Redmond in that game, but no word yet on who gets the start tonight.

Liam Blackburn saw his 20 game point streak end on Friday night, as it was only Jonathan Desbiens scoring with an assist to Tanner Campbell. Keelan Williams took the loss, although made 3 key saves early in the 3rd to give the Warriors a shot down the stretch.

West Kelowna will be without Garrett Forster after he took a shot to the head in the final two minutes in last night's game. The Vees Dominic Masellis was ejected for the check, receiving the minimum 2 game suspension.

The Warriors trail Salmon Arm by 5 points in the Interior.

Stats Pack:

Salmon Arm – 14-5-2-1 HOME – 7-2-2-1 ROAD – 7-3-0-0 Top Scorers Nick Hutchison (11 G, 16 A) Carson Bolduc (7 G, 17 A) Taro Hirose (4 G, 20 A) GF – 89 GA – 61 PP – 6th – 24 for 117 (20.5%) PK – 4th – 102 for 120 (85.0%)	West Kelowna – 12-7-0-2 HOME – 9-4-0-1 ROAD – 3-3-0-1 Top Scorers Liam Blackburn (10 G, 17 A) Jonathan Desbiens (12 G, 10 A) Garrett Forster (8 G, 11 A) GF – 72 GA – 66 PP – 2nd – 23 for 90 (25.6%) PK – 9th – 93 for 115 (80.9%) Next Game – Wednesday Nov 18th -       @ Prince George – 7 PM
Head-to-Head Lifetime – West Kelowna is 18-46-0-8 All-Time vs Penticton Warriors are 9-22-0-5 vs Penticton at Home This Season Head to Head: Warriors are 2-1-0-0. October 16th – Salmon Arm wins 4-2 in West Kelowna October 30th – West Kelowna wins 3-2 in OT in Salmon Arm October 31st – West Kelowna wins 3-1 in West Kelowna

Nov 13th vs Penticton PREVIEW

It is Friday the 13th, and the West Kelowna Warriors are taking on the Penticton Vees at Royal Lepage Place tonight at 7 PM. These two teams have been very successful early on this season, with the Warriors entering play with wins in 5 of their last 6 games, while the Vee's have won 20 straight.

Penticton has found themselves once again on Top of the CJHL National Rankings for the 2nd week in a row. The Warriors had a week as an honourable mention, but dropped out of that after a 1-1 record over the past 7 days. Games against the Vees and Silverbacks this weekend could change that, although the rankings are the last thing on the Warriors mind ahead of Friday nights game.

The Vees have all 3 wins in the season series, including 1 in overtime. West Kelowna was happy with their play in the overtime loss, although they had a lead erased early in that one. They'll be a hungry hockey team when the puck drops.

Special Teams, we talk about it constantly but you'll see the top 2 power plays go head to head in the game. The difference between these two teams is that the Warriors have the 9th best PK, while the Vees PP is the top. The Warriors will hope that the opportunities are even throughout the game, as they enter with a Special Team differential of -27 (27 more times short-handed than on the power play) and is 2nd last in that category. Penticton enters with a +18, creating 18 more opportunities for themselves so far this season. The other teams in the bottom 4 for differential are Surrey (-28), Cowichan (-18), Prince George (-13), and Chilliwack (-9). It will be up to the Warriors to stay disciplined and keep their feet moving to try and get a couple more opportunities in the hockey game.

Keelan Williams is expected to start for the Warriors, coming in with a 2-1 record since acquiring him from Camrose. In the other net, it's a toss-up who starts, as the Warriors have seen both goaltenders this season, including Zach Driscoll the last 2 starts. The Vees have a +55 goal differential, but with only 39 allowed in 21 games, the goaltending and team defense has definitely been solid.

Stats Pack

Penticton – 20-1-0-0 HOME – 10-0-0-0 ROAD – 10-1-0-0 Top Scorers Tyson Jost (18 G, 25 A) Scott Conway (16 G, 25 A) Easton Brodzinski (17 G, 10 A) GF – 94 GA – 39 PP – 1st – 31 for 103 (30.1%) PK – 1st – 78 for 85 (90.6%)	West Kelowna – 12-6-0-2 HOME – 9-3-0-1 ROAD – 3-3-0-1 Top Scorers Liam Blackburn (10 G, 17 A) Jonathan Desbiens (11 G, 10 A) Garrett Forster (8 G, 11 A) GF – 71 GA – 63 PP – 2nd – 23 for 85 (27.1%) PK – 9th – 89 for 112 (81.2%) Next Game – Saturday November 14th @ Salmon Arm – 7 PM Shaw Center
Head-to-Head Lifetime – West Kelowna is 18-46-0-8 All-Time vs Penticton Warriors are 9-22-0-5 vs Penticton at Home This Season Head to Head: Warriors are 0-2-0-1. September 19th – Penticton wins 4-1 in West Kelowna October 9th – Penticton wins 4-3 in OT in Penticton October 21st – Penticton wins 4-2 in Penticton

Warriors 7 - Clippers 4

The West Kelowna Warriors got back in the win column on Sunday afternoon with a big 7-4 win over the Nanaimo Clippers, who finished with just 1 point on an Interior Division road trip.

Click HERE for the Game Story. Post-Game Reaction is HERE, and Game Highlights HERE

Game Thoughts:

• There is so much to talk about with this game it's hard to know where to begin. The Warriors had taken 2 penalties just 48 seconds in, and the Clippers made them pay with an early goal. There was a feeling throughout the arena that maybe today would be another game that the Warriors would be short handed a large chunk of the time, but that reversed itself about halfway through the frame. Starting at the 6:28 mark of the 1st, the Clippers were the ones assessed 6 straight minors, with the Warriors capitalizing on a pair, one at 17:11 of the 1st, and another at 3:29 of the second. It evened out after that until the latter half of the 3rd period when the Warriors took 4 straight calls and the Clippers scored a pair
• Special Teams got a workout on Sunday. The two teams played only 30:09 while 5 on 5 in the game. There were 7 power-play goals scored (4 WK, 3 NAN) and Nanaimo had a shorthanded goal as well. 8 of 11 goals were on special teams, as the game lacked flow for stretches, with a penalty whistle on average every 3 minutes.
• It's hard to look at the boxscore of the game and say that these two teams played physically within the rules. It's something to struggle with, and i'm sure both coaches would agree. The stats don't look good, the Warriors have been short handed 32 times in the last 4 games, and down 5 on 3 on numerous occasions as well. Are they a dirty hockey team? It's tough to tell right now. Of the 11 times shorthanded yesterday, only 3 were for stick fouls, so maybe it is the hard physical play that's getting them in trouble. With an average height of 6'0", the bigger Warrior bodies are starting to take over games, and that may not necessarily be a good thing.
• Stephen Heslop picked up the win in goal, and deserves a lot of credit for his 1st period play. The Warriors only gave up 7 shots in the period, but besides the goal, there were probably 4 good scoring chances that Heslop kicked away with the right pad. One stop on Sheldon Rempal stands out as Rempal went through the Warriors defense in tight with some great moves but Heslop shut the door. Equally, Jonathan Reinhart made 21 saves in the first period, and stymied the Warriors in the final minute of the frame making 4 or 5 big saves on the Warriors power play. It had the feeling of a 3-2/4-3 type game that just exploded in the middle frame with the Special Teams opportunities.
• I was asked between the 1st and 2nd on twitter by Clippers PA Announcer Brandon Cowie if the Clippers looked tired. At the time, I didn't think so as the Warriors took advantage of multiple power plays and fired the puck all over Reinhart in the frame. As the game wore on though you could see frustration and fatigue set in on some Clippers players. Without actual tracking, I would guesstimate Yanni Kaldis played around 35 minutes yesterday, he always seemed to be on the ice defensively (plus numerous offensive chances) for the Clippers. He was one player that did look tired late.
• Scott Allan's goal was a thing of beauty, and again lost a bit in the fact that it made the game 7-2. Allan went end to end through the Clippers and went upstairs from the bottom of the face-off circle in the 3rd period.

West Kelowna has two HUGE games this weekend, as they take on Penticton Friday at RLP, before visiting Salmon Arm on Saturday night.

Merritt 4 - Warriors 1

The West Kelowna Warriors saw their 4-game win streak snapped, while the Merritt Centennials ended a 7-game skid with a 4-1 win on Friday night.

The Warriors had a perfect start, as Liam Blackburn and Quin Foreman assisted on Tanner Campbell's 1st goal of the season just 18 seconds into the game.

West Kelowna was good for the majority of the first period, leading heavily on the shot clock, but the Centennials would capitalize on a turnover at the Warrior line as Tyler Ward snapped one home on Keelan Williams glove side.

While the game was tied after 1, the Warriors and their fans were comfortable with the game at that point, as the 2nd period has been the Warriors best all season long. It wasn't on Friday. Merritt scored twice in the final 10 minutes, and controlled the play for a good chunk of time in the period.

First it was Mark O'Shaughnessy who beat the Warriors back check and put a drop pass from Gavin Gould in the back of the net. Then, Gould finished a 2 on 1 on the power play to make it 3-1.

The 4th goal for the Cents came in the 3rd, when Colin Grannary pushed one over the line after Merritt jammed the net and the Warriors failed to get the puck covered by Williams in the referee's judgement. It was tough to tell where the puck was and if the whistle should have been blown.

West Kelowna did have 18 shots in the period, but Cole Kehler was solid in the Merritt goal and took the 2nd star honours, while Gould was Star #1.

Game Thoughts:

• Just one week after the Warriors played in a pair of games that averaged 12.5 power plays. Last night, the Warriors had 2 advantages, while the Centennials had 3. While you like to see the refs letting the teams play, there were a few situations in the 2nd where you'd like to see a call. Not saying much more here, but watching the video there's definitely questions.
• Can't fault Keelan Williams again, as Rylan Ferster said post game "he didn't let in a bad goal, we broke down all over the place." Warriors goaltender coach Chad Carder echoed that statement in a brief conversation with me after the game. There's just not much Williams hasn't done in 3 games so far with West Kelowna.
• Kyle Marino was a wrecking ball in the first 5 minutes of the game, but didn't seem to factor in overall down the stretch. The physical play kind of calmed down as the game wore on, but ramped up in the 3rd with a pair of fights with Tyler Anderson and Marino tangling for the Warriors. Kylar Hope took a 10-minute misconduct on the same play as Marino's fight, as he was in a wrestling match with Zak Bowles.

The Warriors will take on the Nanaimo Clippers on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at Royal Lepage Place.

November 6th vs Merritt PREVIEW

The West Kelowna Warriors will put their 4-game winning streak on the line in a divisional matchup with the Merritt Centennials at Royal Lepage Place tonight.

The Warriors, who have knocked off Vernon, Victoria, and Salmon Arm twice earned themselves an honourable mention in this weeks CJHL Rankings after beating the #18 ranked Silverbacks last week. In fact, the Warriors have played 7 games against ranked teams during their time in the Top 20, including wins over Cowichan Valley, Wenatchee, and Salmon Arm. The Warriors have also played 3 times against Penticton, who now hold the top spot thanks to their 18-game winning streak.

Turning attention to the task at hand tonight, the Warriors will be looking to avenge the 9-1 defeat they had at the hands of the Centennials on September 30th in the Nicola Valley. West Kelowna regrouped after that and had a solid month of October, where they went 7-2-0-2. There are a couple new faces in the Warriors lineup since that last meeting, but the pride of the locker room should be on display early.

Discussing the keys of the game tonight, there's one astonishing number that stands out, and it's the penalty kill % of the Centennials. Merritt has struggled this year short handed, allowing 38 power-play goals against. That's over 51% of goals allowed happening when Merritt is down a man. The 58.7% penalty kill is last in the BCHL, whereas the 92 times short handed is the 7th most in the BCHL. West Kelowna is now 4th in times shorthanded, having 18 penalty kills this past weekend, so creating power play opportunities will be one of the keys.

Kristian Blumenschein should return on the blueline for the Warriors tonight, while Rylan Yaremko will serve a one-game suspension for receiving his 2nd Instigator penalty this season. The Warriors are hopeful that Blumenschein will be able to play a regular shift in his 2nd attempt to return to the lineup.

Puck Drops at 7:00 pm, if you can't make the game, tune in on www.mixlr.com/bchlwarriors with the pre-game at 6:40. We'll have Captain's Corner with Kyle Marino and the October highlight package during the intermissions tonight.

Stats Pack:

Merritt – 6-13-0-1 HOME – 4-6-0-1 ROAD – 2-7-0-0 Top Scorers Zak Bowles (10 G, 12 A) Colin Grannary (11 G, 10 A) Gavin Gould (8 G, 10 A) GF – 51 GA – 74 PP – 6th – 20 for 102 (22.6%) PK – 17th – 54 for 92 (58.7%)	West Kelowna – 11-5-0-2 HOME – 8-2-0-1 ROAD – 3-3-0-1 Top Scorers Liam Blackburn (10 G, 15 A) Jonathan Desbiens (11 G, 10 A) Garrett Forster (8 G, 9 A) GF – 63 GA – 55 PP – 3rd – 19 for 72 (26.4%) PK – 7th – 80 for 97 (82.5%) Next Game – Sunday November 8th – vs. Nanaimo – 2:30 PM RLP
Head-to-Head Lifetime – West Kelowna is 43-15-1-4 vs Merritt All-Time Warriors are 24-6-1-1 against Merritt at Home This Season Head to Head: Warriors are 1-2. September 11th – West Kelowna Wins 6-4 in West Kelowna September 12th – Merritt wins 5-4 in Merritt September 30th – Merritt wins 9-1 in Merritt