PHOTO: Randy Emery/Trail Smoke Eaters
The West Kelowna Warriors complete their season opening home-and-home with the Trail Smoke Eaters on First Responders Appreciation Night at Royal LePage Place on Saturday night.
Warriors vs. Smoke Eaters 2016/17:
Friday, September 9th @ Royal LePage Place (3-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, September 10th @ Cominco Arena (8-5 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, November 5th @ Royal LePage Place (5-3 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Thursday, November 10th @ Cominco Arena (5-3 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)
Thursday, December 29th @ Royal LePage Place (3-2 Warriors 2OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, December 30th @ Cominco Arena (4-0 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)
Warriors vs. Smoke Eaters 2017/18 Schedule:
Friday, September 8th @ Cominco Arena (4-3 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, September 9th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 9th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Friday, December 29th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, December 30th @ Cominco Arena (7:00 PM)
Friday, January 19th @ Cominco Arena (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Smoke Eaters opened the 2017/18 regular season with a highly entertaining affair that saw West Kelowna open the season on a positive note with a 4-3 victory over Trail. Matt Kowalski earned his first career hat-trick with Parm Dhaliwal also tallying in the win for the Warriors, who went 2/6 on the power play in the game as well. Nik Amundrud turned aside 27 of the 30 shots he faced for his third career BCHL victory and his first of the young season.
Kowalski’s impressive opening night puts him in a bit of Warriors history as he joins former Warriors forward Tyler Krause, who scored four goals, as the only Warriors players to open the season with a hat-trick. The Vernon, BC native was not the only player to tally a trio of goals on opening night, however, as Chilliwack Chiefs Captain Will Calverley also made the hats rain in a 5-5 tie in Prince George.
The Warriors special teams evened out on the opening night of hockey in the BCHL as the West Kelowna power play had a surge, going 2/6 in the game but the penalty kill had a rough night standing at 2/4 in the contest. Either way, both areas were ones in which the Warriors wanted to shore up from their previous campaign.
West Kelowna opened the regular season with a win for the third straight season and now head home to complete the weekend set with the Smokies. West Kelowna has enjoyed plenty of success when opening the doors to Royal LePage Place for their home openers as the club has won their past three home openers.
The Warriors are proud to be hosting a First Responders Appreciation Night to be held at their home opener on Saturday, September 9th against the Trail Smoke Eaters. There will be a courtyard party outside of Royal LePage Place that kicks off at 4:00 PM with street hockey, beverage tents, music and much more. Fans are encouraged to buy their tickets early and can do so by visiting the Warriors office or by calling Office Administrator Kim Potter at (250) 769-7051.
The Smoke Eaters enter play on Saturday night looking for their first win of the season after the 4-3 loss to the Warriors on Friday. The Smokies power play was clicking on Friday, going 2/4 with Blaine Caton, Levi Glasman and Ross Armour tallying the Smoke Eaters goals. Brandon Wells got the start in goal for Trail stopping 24 of 28 shots in his first loss of the season.
Jeremey Lucchini had a strong night for the Smoke Eaters as the Trail, BC native tallied three assists on the night. The 3rd-year blue liner is pulling a lot of the veteran load on the backend for the Smokies this season and came through with a big night on Friday despite the losing outcome.
The Warriors and Smoke Eaters drop the puck at 7 PM from Royal LePage Place on Saturday night with pre-game festivities starting in the courtyard outside of RLP beginning at 4 PM. If you can’t make it down to RLP for the home opener, the pre-game show airs at 6:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network as well as www.hockeytv.com.
