The West Kelowna Warriors look to rebound and get back in the win column when they host the Merritt Centennials for the first time this season on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
Warriors vs. Centennials 2016/17:
Tuesday, September 27th @ Royal LePage Place (5-1 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, December 9th @ Royal LePage Place (3-2 Warriors/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 10th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (4-2 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, January 6th @ Royal LePage Place (4-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, January 7th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (4-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, February 6th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (6-2 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, February 24th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (8-3 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Warriors vs. Centennials 2017/18 Schedule:
Saturday, September 16th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Sunday, October 29th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (2:00 PM)
Friday, November 24th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Friday, December 1st @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
Saturday, February 3rd @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Friday, February 23rd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Centennials met six times in the regular season in 2016/17 while also seeing each other four times in the opening round of the BCHL playoffs. For the first time in two seasons, the Warriors won the season series over the Cents by four games to two count but it was the Centennials that got the last laugh in the win column as they swept the Warriors out of the playoffs in four games. This game marks the first meeting, outside of the preseason, since Game #4 of that playoff series in Merritt on March 7th.
West Kelowna comes into their one-game weekend after a bit of a disappointing contest one week ago in their home opener against the Trail Smoke Eaters. The Smokies won the game by a 4-0 score with the Warriors looking a bit on the lethargic side, tallying only 11 shots in their final two periods of play on route to being shutout for just the second time in their home opening history. Nik Amundrud got the start in goal for the Warriors, making 21 saves on 24 shots before exiting the game late in the third period and Cole Demers playing the last 4:47 while making two saves in front of a big attendance of 1,266 at RLP.
The Warriors will need a big bounce back effort in tonight’s conclusion of back-to-back home games and will be looking to give the West Kelowna fans something to go home happy about as the Warriors will not play another game at RLP until September 30th, a span of four games. The Warriors will play a pair of games at the Bauer BCHL Showcase in Chilliwack next week against the Coquitlam Express and the Cowichan Valley Capitals, following that up with another trip to the Mainland to take on the Langley Rivermen before heading to Penticton next Friday to take on the Vees ahead of returning home in two weeks to face-off against the Chilliwack Chiefs.
Despite the tough game last Saturday, the Warriors do enter play with a 1-1-0-0 record as they took the season opening game in Trail by a 4-3 score. In the game, newcomer Matt Kowalski tallied a hat-trick to go along with one assist, a performance good enough to earn him an honourable mention for the BCHL Player of the Week which was won by Vernon Vipers forward Jimmy Lambert. The trio of goals marked the first career BCHL hat-trick for Kowalski and a strong debut in his opening game for his new team.
With some of the top scorers in the likes of Quin Foreman and Connor Sodergren gone from last season, the Warriors will need to have some players step up offensively from that team and look to regain some success against the Centennials. Parm Dhaliwal had a good season against Merritt last year, scoring a goal and adding four assists for five points while Chase Dubois scored once and had three points which was a similar stat line for defenseman Jake Harrison against the Centennials in 2016/17.
The Merritt Centennials enter play on Saturday night still in search of their first victory in the 2017/18 regular season with an 0-3-0-0 record after a 2-0 shutout loss to the Vernon Vipers on Friday night. Niko Karamanis scored twice while Ty Taylor posted a 29 save shutout in the win for Vernon with Jacob Berger stopping a total of 30 of the 32 shots he faced on the night in the defeat. The Cents have dropped 4-2 and 5-3 decisions last week to the Penticton Vees and Wenatchee Wild, respectively.
Saturday night marks the first road game for the Centennials in the new season as they have dropped their first three home games of the year. Merritt will look to improve upon it’s road record from a season ago, going 10-14-1-4 away from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena in 2016/17 and didn’t win in RLP in the regular season after picking up an opening game victory over the Warriors on September 27th.
The Centennials were dealt a huge blow in the offseason when the club learned that forwards Tyler Ward, Michael Regush, Zach Risteau, Cade Gleekel and defenseman Zach Metsa would all not be returning to the team as four of the five elected to play in the United States Hockey League (USHL), with Gleekel heading to school and now playing at St. Lawrence University. The five combined for 188 points over the course of the regular season in 2016/17 and left a big hole to fill offensively for the Centennials.
The Cents do, however, have nine returnees from last season including captain Tyrell Buckley, forwards Rylan Van Unen, Zach Zorn, Zach Court, Nicholas Wicks, Henry Cleghorn and Chase Bell along with defenseman Michael Van Unen and goaltender Jacob Berger. It’s a fairly new core on the backend for the Joe Martin-led squad with 193 games of experience on the blue line, 159 of those coming from the four-year veteran Buckley.
The Warriors and Centennials drop the puck at 7:00 PM on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place with tickets available for purchase at the Warriors office or by phoning Kim at (250) 769-7051. If you can’t make it to the game, voice of the Warriors Trevor Miller will have the call beginning at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and www.hockeytv.com.
