PHOTO: Ken Reid/Greystoke Photography
The West Kelowna Warriors will look to stave off elimination on Tuesday night in Game #4 of their first-round playoff series against the Merritt Centennials at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
Regular Season Series:
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 3rd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (6-2 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, February 24th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (8-3 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Playoff Series:
Game #1: Friday, March 3rd @ Royal LePage Place (6-5 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Game #2: Saturday, March 4th @ Royal LePage Place (5-4 Centennials/3OT) (BOXSCORE)
Game #3: Monday, March 6th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (6-2 Centennials) (BOXSCORE)
Game #4: Tuesday, March 7th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
*Game #5: Thursday, March 9th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
*Game #6: Friday, March 10th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (7:00 PM)
*Game #7: Saturday, March 11th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Regular Season Leading Scorers (West Kelowna):
Quin Foreman 27-42—69
Connor Sodergren 24-35—59
Logan Mostat 18-24—42
Chase Dubois 18-15—33
Braiden Epp 16-17—33
Regular Season Leading Scorers (Merritt):
Zach Risteau 26-24—50
Cade Gleekel 16-29—45
Brett Jewell 15-21—36
Michael Regush 14-22—36
Zach Court 11-23—34
Playoff Leading Scorers (West Kelowna):
Quin Foreman 3-3-6
Jake Harrison 2-3-5
Chase Stevenson 1-3-4
Michael Ryan 2-1-3
Stephen Kleysen 0-3-3
Playoff Leading Scorers (Merritt)
Tyler Ward 6-2-8
Michael Regush 1-4-5
Brett Jewell 2-2-4
Nick Fidanza 1-3-4
Zach Risteau 2-1-3
The Warriors look to stave off elimination as they dropped a 6-2 decision on Monday night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena against the Centennials. Tyler Chavez-Leech notched his first career BCHL playoff goal as an AP call-up from the Revelstoke Grizzlies while Michael Ryan added a goal in the 2nd period but was the only scoring on the night for the Warriors. Cole Demers stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced in the game for his 3rd loss of the playoffs.
Despite being undermanned, the Warriors will look to keep this series alive and need a victory on Tuesday night to do so. Captain Nicholas Rutigliano, Tyler Jutting, Gabriel Morency and Jon Russell all continued to be sidelined as the Warriors will use affiliate players in Chavez-Leech, who scored last night in his BCHL playoff debut, will play again tonight for West Kelowna along with defenseman Connor Horning will draw into the lineup from the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy.
The Centennials are on the other end of the spectrum as they look to close the series out on home ice Tuesday night. Merritt has gotten a big effort from goaltender Jake Berger over the last pair of games as after a 63 save performance in the triple overtime win on Saturday night, Berger turned aside 30 of 32 shots last night in the Cents third win of the series.
Merritt’s Tyler Ward has been the biggest thorn in the Warriors side over the course of the last three games as he has three-straight two-goal games. Ward sits alone in 1st in playoff scoring with six goals and eight points. Michael Regush (1-4-5) and Brett Jewell (2-2-4), Ward’s line mates, pace the Centennials in scoring in the playoffs and have all been very effective throughout the three games thus far.
The Warriors and Centennials drop the puck at 7:00 PM with the pre-game show going at 6:45 PM with free live audio on the Warriors Internet Network and pay-per-view video at www.hockeytv.com. If the Warriors can win tonight, Game #5 would be slated for Thursday night at Royal LePage Place with a 7:00 PM puck drop.
