The West Kelowna Warriors close out their regular season home schedule as they host the Wenatchee Wild in the sixth game of the season series on Wednesday night at Royal LePage Place.
Warriors vs. Wild 2017/18 Schedule:
Friday, October 13th @ Royal LePage Place (4-2 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 10th @ Town Toyota Center (9-2 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, December 2nd @ Royal LePage Place (4-3 Warriors/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, January 12th @ Town Toyota Center (5-4 Warriors/OT) (BOXSCORE)
Saturday, January 13th @ Town Toyota Center (6-0 Wild) (BOXSCORE)
Wednesday, February 21st @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Wild wrap up their season series on Wednesday night with Wenatchee winning three of the five previous meetings including a 6-0 shutout victory in the latest game between the two Interior Division rivals. It was the first of two consecutive shutouts for the Warriors with Cole Demers making 26 saves on the 32 shots he faced in the game in the defeat.
West Kelowna comes into Wednesday night’s action with a 27-26-1-1 record and sits in 5th place in the Interior Division, four points ahead of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks and picked up their 27th win of the season with five goals in the 3rd period and a come from behind 6-3 victory over the Victoria Grizzlies on Saturday night. RJ Murphy tallied twice in the game, including the game winning goal, while Parm Dhaliwal, Chase Dubois, Chase Stevenson and Ryan Steele scored in the game for the Warriors. Nik Amundrud stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced in the game for his 16th win of the season.
Warriors Leading Scorers:
Chase Dubois (20-33-53)
Jared Marino (20-32-52)
Ryan Steele (17-31-48)
RJ Murphy (21-24-45)
Michael Ryan (6-35-41)
Ryan Steele extended his point streak to 10 games with a goal and an assist on Saturday night’s victory. The Sacred Heart University commit has scored 9 goals and 18 points over his ten-game dominance and has vaulted up to 3rd in team scoring with 17 goals and 48 points. The Stratford, PEI native has collected 10 goals and 20 points in 15 games with the Warriors since the Trade Deadline, eight points off of his total in 38 games with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
There’s another lengthy point streak running for the Warriors as RJ Murphy has collected points in nine straight games. The Harvard University commit has scored 8 goals and 15 points during the 9-game stretch and now leads the Warriors in goals with 21. Chase Dubois has overtaken the team lead in points with 53 points and has four points in his last two games while Parm Dhaliwal also has four points in his last two games.
The Warriors collected their 17th win on home ice in the come from behind effort on Saturday night against the Grizzlies to push their record at Royal LePage Place to 17-10-1-0 on the season. West Kelowna is ranked 5th in the BCHL in goals for on home ice with 109 and are the most goals they have scored at RLP in a season since the 2015/16 season.
The Wenatchee Wild come into Wednesday night’s game with a 36-14-1-4 record and sit 3rd in the Interior Division with 77 points, two behind the Vernon Vipers for 2nd spot in the division. Wenatchee has won their last four games including a weekend sweep over the Trail Smoke Eaters with a 5-2 win on Friday night and the latest victory being a 4-1 defeat of the Smokies on Saturday. Josh Arnold, Zac Galambos, AJ Vanderbeck and Daniel Chladek scored in the game for the Wild while Seth Eisele stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced for his 19th victory of the season.
Wild Leading Scorers:
Jasper Weatherby (37-35-72)
Cooper Zech (11-54-65)
AJ Vanderbeck (35-24-59)
Lucas Sowder (18-38-56)
Sam Morton (27-24-51)
The Wild lead the BCHL with 230 goals for this season and will likely finish in that top spot to end the year as they are 22 goals ahead of the Victoria Grizzlies for the number one position and have been helped in large part by the league’s leading scorer Jasper Weatherby. The University of North Dakota commit has scored 37 goals along with 72 points and would mark the second straight season that a player from the Wild would lead the BCHL in scoring with Brendan Harris’ 98 points leading the way a season ago.
One player that is closing in on Weatherby’s league lead in points is a teammate in the likes of defenseman Cooper Zech. The South Lyon, Missouri native leads the BCHL with 54 assists and currently sits in a tie for 5th place in the league in scoring with his 65 points. The Ferris State commit would be the highest scoring defenseman in the league since Mike Reilly during the 2011/12 season where he had 83 points for the Penticton Vees.
Seth Eisele has started the last 11 games for the Wild and has helped the team to an 8-3-0-0 record in that time. The Lake Elmo, Minnesota native has posted a 2.33 GAA and a .903 SV% during that stretch of time with help from the Wild defense as Wenatchee has not allowed more than 30 shots in a game since January 26th against Merritt, a span of nine games.
It’s the final home game of the regular season with the Warriors and Wild battling head-to-head with $2.50 draft beer and 25 cent chicken wings being featured on Fan Appreciation Night! Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM at Royal LePage Place with tickets being available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office one hour prior to the opening face-off. The game will also be broadcasted live on Shaw TV Okanagan (Channel 11).
