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GAME PREVIEW: Warriors, Smoke Eaters Shift To West Kelowna For Game #3

The West Kelowna Warriors return home in search of their first win in Game #3 of their Interior Division Quarter Final against the Trail Smoke Eaters on Monday night at Royal LePage Place.

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Warriors vs. Smoke Eaters 2017/18 Schedule:

Friday, September 8th @ Cominco Arena (4-3 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, September 9th @ Royal LePage Place (4-0 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, December 9th @ Royal LePage Place (5-3 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Friday, December 29th @ Royal LePage Place (7-5 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Saturday, December 30th @ Cominco Arena (6-3 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Friday, January 19th @ Cominco Arena (2-1 Warriors) (BOXSCORE)

 

Warriors vs. Smoke Eaters Playoff Series Schedule:

Game #1: Friday, March 2nd @ Cominco Arena (6-5 Smoke Eaters/OT) (BOXSCORE)

Game #2: Saturday, March 3rd @ Cominco Arena (7-2 Smoke Eaters) (BOXSCORE)

Game #3: Monday, March 5th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Game #4: Tuesday, March 6th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)

*Game #5: Thursday, March 8th @ Cominco Arena (7:00 PM)

*Game #6: Saturday, March 10th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)

*Game #7: Sunday, March 11th @ Cominco Arena (7:00 PM)

* – If Necessary

The Warriors are looking for their first win of the series after the Smoke Eaters earned a 7-2 victory in Game #2 of the best-of-seven series on Saturday night. Willie Reim tallied a power play goal while Michael Lombardi scored late in the 3rd period to pick up the Warriors goals on the night while Nik Amundrud stopped 37 of the 44 shots he faced in the game for his second loss of the season.

Warriors Regular Season Scoring Leaders:

Chase Dubois (21-36-57)

Jared Marino (21-32-53)

Ryan Steele (19-34-53)

RJ Murphy (21-24-45)

Michael Ryan (7-37-44)

Warriors Playoff Leading Scorers:

Chase Dubois (2-3-5)

Ryan Steele (2-1-3)

Jared Marino (1-1-2)

Willie Reim (1-1-2)

Parm Dhaliwal (0-2-2)

The Warriors make their way back to West Kelowna in hopes of getting back into the series and earning their first victory. West Kelowna finished the regular season with a 17-10-1-1 record on home ice this season while outscoring their opponents by a 115-99 margin. The Warriors had their troubles at Royal LePage Place against Trail this season, however, with no wins in three tries during the regular season.

Special teams continued to dominate the series after Saturday night’s Game #2 as the Warriors power play picked up its fifth goal of the series coming courtesy of Willie Reim, who has points in back-to-back games. West Kelowna has gone 5/11 in the two games of the series thus far, operating at 45.5%, which is good for top spot in the BC Hockey League in power play percentage.

Although Ryan Steele has his 14-game point streak snapped on Saturday night, teammate Parm Dhaliwal kept his alive to six games, dating back to the regular season. Dhaliwal has scored four goals and collected ten points during his half-a-dozen game stretch with points and sits 5th in the Warriors playoff scoring with an assist in each of the first two games of the series.

The Trail Smoke Eaters come into Monday night’s Game #3 with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Interior Division Quarter Final against the Warriors with their 7-2 victory in Game #2 on Saturday night at Cominco Arena. Levi Glasman scored twice in the game for the Smokies while Braeden Tuck, Spencer McLean, Blaine Caton, Mack Byers and Ryan Murphy added singles. Adam Marcoux turned aside 23 of the 25 shots he faced in the game for his second win of the series.

Smoke Eaters Regular Season Leading Scorers:

Ross Armour (21-42-63)

Kale Howarth (24-37-61)

Levi Glasman (24-28-52)

Carter Jones (15-30-45)

Andre Ghantous (19-25-44)

Smoke Eaters Playoff Scoring Leaders:

Levi Glasman (2-3-5)

Kale Howarth (2-3-5)

Ross Armour (0-5-5)

Blaine Caton (2-1-3)

Andre Ghantous (1-2-3)

Ross Armour, Kale Howarth and Levi Glasman led the Smoke Eaters in scoring throughout the regular season and have done so again in the postseason. Each of the three have collected five points in the series thus far with Glasman and Howarth each collecting multi-goal games and Armour earning five assists in the first two games of the series, including three assists on Saturday night.

Adding to the offense so far in the series, Glasman has also been very productive dating back to the regular season with a five-game point streak. The Red Deer, Alberta native has scored six goals and registered nine points during that five-game stretch with three of those six markers coming courtesy of the power play.

The Smoke Eaters power play has also collected five goals in the two games of the series so far, going 5/17 including a four-goal night on Saturday on 11 opportunities. The Warriors and Smoke Eaters are tied for second in the league in goals for on the man advantage with five, one behind the Wenatchee Wild for the top spot. Trail ranked 9th during the regular season with 51 power play goals but were 4th in the league in power play percentage at 21.1%.

The Warriors and Smoke Eaters drop the puck at 7:00 PM on Monday night for Game #3 of their best-of-seven Interior Division Quarter Final series. Children 16 and under get free admission with tickets available online at wkw.goticketpro.com, at the Warriors office, by calling (250) 769-7051 or at the box office ahead of the opening puck drop.