PHOTO: Julie Pringle/Snap Photography
The West Kelowna Warriors set their sights on a fourth straight victory as they complete their weekend doubleheader against the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night at the Town Toyota Center.
Warriors vs. Wild 2017/18 Schedule:
Friday, October 13th @ Royal LePage Place (4-2 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 10th @ Town Toyota Center (9-2 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 2nd @ Royal LePage Place (4-3 Warriors/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, January 12th @ Town Toyota Center (5-4 Warriors/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, January 13th @ Town Toyota Center (7:05 PM)
Tuesday, February 21st @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Wild play in the 5th of their 6-game season series and the final game south of the border on Saturday with the Warriors coming away with a 5-4 victory in overtime on Friday night at the Town Toyota Center. RJ Murphy opened the scoring before goals from Michael Ryan, Jared Marino and Ryan Steele forced the game into overtime where Murphy played hero for the third time this season in the extra frame. Nik Amundrud turned aside 40 of the 44 shots he faced in the game for his 10th win of the season.
Warriors Leading Scorers:
Jared Marino (18-26-44)
Chase Dubois (15-19-34)
Michael Ryan (5-27-32)
RJ Murphy (12-17-29)
Ryan Steele (7-22-29)
RJ Murphy continued his hot stretch of play with a pair of goals on Friday night as the Warriors forward had a pair of goals and increased his point streak to five games. The Needham, Massachusetts has collected three goals while assisting on four for seven points during that stretch. Murphy has had a knack for clutch goals as well as he leads the BCHL with three overtime markers this season.
Saturday marks a milestone for one Warriors forward as Chase Dubois will be suiting up in his 100th career regular season BCHL game. In 99 games so far though his career, the Williams Lake, BC native has scored 34 goals and collected 68 points in that span. Dubois will become the 4th Warriors player to have 100 career regular season games under their belts.
After a busy night one night ago for netminder Nik Amundrud, the Warriors will turn to goaltender Cole Demers for the conclusion of the two-game weekend set in Wenatchee. The Kelowna, BC native holds a 10-4-1 record this season to go along with a 3.34 GAA and a .904 SV% as well as one shutout. Demers comes into the contest after a 44 save performance last Saturday against the Nanaimo Clippers in a 4-3 Warriors victory.
The Wenatchee Wild come into Saturday night’s affair looking to snap a four-game losing stretch after the 5-4 Warriors victory in overtime last night. Chad Sasaki, Daniel Chladek, Jasper Weatherby and Sam Morton scored in the game for the Wild while Austin Park turned aside 33 of the 38 shots he faced in the overtime defeat.
Wild Leading Scorers:
Jasper Weatherby (27-26-53)
Cooper Zech (7-36-43)
Lucas Sowder (15-27-42)
AJ Vanderbeck (22-19-41)
Sam Morton (20-15-35)
Wild defenseman Cooper Zech has been a steady offensive presence on the backend for the Wenatchee, coming into Saturday night with back-to-back two assist games. The South Lyon, Michigan native sits in 1st in scoring amongst defensemen with 7 goals and 43 points and is 2nd in the league in assists this season behind Surrey’s Ty Westgard (42).
With 3 power play goals last night, the Wild have scored 6 goals on the man advantage against the Warriors on 17 attempts in two games at the Town Toyota Center. Wenatchee’s power play remains at number 3 in the league at 21.9% and overall in four games against the Warriors this season, the Wild power play has gone 6/23 with a percentage of 26.3.
The Warriors and Wild drop the puck at 7:05 PM tonight from the Town Toyota Center with the pre-game show getting underway at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the voice of the Warriors, Trevor Miller.
West Kelowna returns home on Tuesday, January 16th to face-off against the Vernon Vipers in the 5th meeting of their 6-game season series and will be broadcasted live on Shaw TV Okanagan. Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour ahead of the opening puck drop.
