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GAME PREVIEW: Warriors Host Grizzlies On 9th Annual Faith Night

PHOTO: Julie Pringle/Snap Photography

The West Kelowna Warriors return to RLP for their final two home games of the regular season, beginning against the Victoria Grizzlies on Pastor Don Richmond’s 9th annual Faith Night on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.

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Warriors vs. Grizzlies 2017/18 Schedule:

Friday, January 5th @ The Q Centre (7-3 Grizzlies) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, February 17th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)

The Warriors and Grizzlies play the second of their two-game season series on Saturday with Victoria earning the only win of the series so far with a 7-3 victory at The Q Centre in early January. Jared Marino, Stephen Kleysen and Chase Dubois scored in the game for West Kelowna while Nik Amundrud turned aside 28 of the 35 shots he faced in the game for the loss.

West Kelowna comes into their one-game weekend after a three-game weekend against the Cowichan Valley Capitals, Powell River Kings and Chilliwack Chiefs. The latest game against the Chiefs ended in a 7-4 Chilliwack win with Jared Marino, Willie Reim, Chase Dubois and Matt Kowalski finding the back of the net for the Warriors. Nik Amundrud stopped 25 of the 31 shots in his 15th loss of the season.

Warriors Leading Scorers:

Jared Marino (20-32-52)

Chase Dubois (19-32-51)

Ryan Steele (16-30-46)

RJ Murphy (19-23-42)

Michael Ryan (6-34-40)

A pair of Warriors will be suiting up for their 100th career regular season BCHL games on Saturday night as defensemen Michael Ryan and Tyler Jutting hit the century mark. Ryan comes into Saturday with 15 goals and 65 points in his 99 career games to date with 6 goals and 40 points coming in this season to sit 5th in team scoring. The Union College commit is also 5th in scoring amongst defensemen in the league and 2nd in the BCHL in power play assists.

Jutting enters Saturday with a goal and 11 points on the season in 51 games while tallying two goals and 20 points in 99 career games. The 20-year-old defender secured a scholarship to play Division I hockey at the Air Force Academy for next season with his play from a season ago and has been a stalwart defensively for West Kelowna this season and has missed just three games in 2017/18.

The point streak continued for Ryan Steele on Sunday evening as the Sacred Heart University commit has points in 9 straight games. During his nine-game point stretch, Steele has registered 8 goals and 16 points in that span while Parm Dhaliwal and Chase Dubois got back in the points column with Dhaliwal scoring points in 7 of his last 8 games with Dubois collecting points in 6 of his last 7 games.

The Victoria Grizzlies enter play on Saturday with a record of 30-17-3-4 and sit in 1st place in the Island Division after a 3-0 shutout victory against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at the Shaw Centre on Friday. Marty Westhaver collected the hat trick on Friday night, including a pair of shorthanded goals in the victory while Kurtis Chapman turned aside all 41 of the shots he faced in the game for his 10th win of the season and his 2nd shutout.

Grizzlies Leading Scorers:

Alex Newhook (22-44-66)

Jamie Rome (21-43-64)

Ethan Nother (24-29-53)

T.J. Friedmann (30-21-51)

Justin Michaelian (24-20-44)

The Grizzlies got some rough news with it being revealed that 16-year-old forward and leading scorer Alex Newhook would be sidelined for the rest of the regular season but 20-year-old Jamie Rome has picked up the offense in a big way. The Western Michigan University commit had a seven-game point streak snapped on Friday which saw the Grizzlies forward earn multiple points in each of those games, earning 7 goals and 19 points during that span, including having scored in five straight games.

Another Grizzly who lost a lengthy point streak on Friday night was Ethan Nother as the 20-year-old forward had a seven-game point streak snapped against the Silverbacks. The London, Ontario native compiled 7 goals and 15 points during that stretch and is just shy of a point-per-game basis with 53 points in 54 games played this season, one of only three Grizzlies to play all 54 games to date along with T.J. Friedmann and Marty Westhaver.

Victoria has had no problem finding the back of the net as the team sits 2nd in the BCHL with 203 goals for this season, behind only the Wenatchee Wild (226) for top spot. A big reason for that offensive success has been the Grizzlies power play, which ranks 1st in the league at 22.6%. The Grizzlies have enjoyed a five-game winning streak as well, not having lost a game in February and holding a power play of 7/22 (32%) during that span.

The Warriors and Grizzlies drop the puck at 7:00 PM on the 9th annual Pastor Don’s Faith Night with plenty of local churches in attendance and some great prizes to be won and the annual team awards being presented post game! Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour prior to puck drop.

West Kelowna is back on home ice on Wednesday, February 21st against the Wenatchee Wild with the game being broadcasted live on Shaw TV Okanagan beginning at the 7:00 PM puck drop. Tickets are available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour prior to puck drop.