Photo Credit: Russ Alman / Digital Media Northwest
March 5th, 2019
WEST KELOWNA B.C. – The West Kelowna Warriors look to take a 2-1 series lead over the Wenatchee Wild Tuesday night.
WARRIORS VS WILD REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE:
Sept 15th @ WEST KELOWNA – 4-2 LOSS
Sept 26th @ WEST KELOWNA – 7pm 5-2 WIN
Oct 30th @ WEST KELOWNA – 7pm 6-2 WIN
Nov 2nd @ Wenatchee – 7:05pm 4-3 WIN
Nov 23rd @ Wenatchee – 7:05pm 6-3 LOSS
Nov 24th @ Wenatchee – 7:05pm 4-2 LOSS
WARRIORS VS WILD ROUND 1 SCHEDULE: BEST OF SEVEN SERIES TIED 1-1
GAME 1 Saturday March 2nd @ Wenatchee 7:05pm LOSS 5-4
GAME 2 Sunday March 3rd @ Wenatchee 6:05pm WIN 5-1
GAME 3 Tuesday March 5th @ West Kelowna 7:00pm
GAME 4 Wednesday March 6th @ West Kelowna 7:00pm
*GAME 5 Friday March 8th @ West Kelowna 7:00pm
*GAME 6 Sunday March 10th @ Wenatchee 8:05pm
*GAME 7 Monday March 11th @ Wenatchee 7:05pm
*if necessary
The Warriors got a much needed game 2 victory Sunday night in Wenatchee with goals scored by their veterans. Both Chase Dubois and Lucas Cullen led the way each scoring a pair of goals leading to a 5-1 victory for the Warriors over the Wild. “It was nice to get some puck luck finally,” stated Head Coach and General Manager Brandon West. “Our leaders stepped up big time, it’s so important at this time of the year when you don’t have a ton lengthy playoff success. These guys have been playoffs before, they know how to keep their cool and remain calm, and I think our guys did a great job of that.”
Tonight the Warriors are back home inside Royal LePage Place, a rink where they’ve already defeated the Wild twice earlier this season. The Wild also opted to go with the unorthodox 2-3-2 format in the best of seven series. Meaning the Warriors will play games 3, 4, and 5 in West Kelowna. With the series tied at one leaving Wenatchee, all momentum and advantage is on the Warriors side. “This Wild team is good, they’re very well coached”, stated Brandon West. “Bliss has done a great job with this group from the beginning of the year to where they are now. They’re a tough to play against team and we need to be on our toes on Tuesday night.”
Couple takeaways from the Wild is that their Head Coach and General Manager Bliss Littler decided to shuffle his lineup even after his game one victory Saturday night. Littler also pulled his goaltender Austin Park after the first period in game two after allowing only a pair of goals in the first period. It will be interesting to see if Littler decides to go with Cal Sandquist between the pipes for game three or will he stick to his veteran? One thing the Wild have done very well in the series so far has been staying disciplined. Bliss Littler knows his key to winning the series to stay out of the penalty box, “They’ve killed us on the power play this year. We just need to stay disciplined.” Only one penalty has been taken all series and it led to a very late Mike Hardman goal scored with less than 2 minutes to go in game one.
Warriors Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations Chase Johnston is back on the mic with a pregame show 10 minutes before puck drop. Just a reminder that tickets are available for the first round of the BCHL playoffs at tickets.westkelownawarriors.ca.
