The West Kelowna Warriors begin their six-game season series against the Vernon Vipers with the opening game taking place at Kal Tire Place on Saturday night.
Warriors vs. Vipers 2017/18 Schedule:
Saturday, October 28th @ Kal Tire Place (6:00 PM)
Saturday, November 4th @ Kal Tire Place (6:00 PM)
Wednesday, November 15th @ Kal Tire Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, November 25th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Tuesday, January 16th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Friday, January 26th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
The Warriors and Vipers have waited two months for their first meeting of the season to come and will see plenty of each other over the new few weeks. West Kelowna will make three trips to Vernon over the next four weeks before the Vipers play at RLP in 2018 in a bit of a scheduling quirk. Last season, the Vipers took the seven-game season series with four wins but was the tightest of the season series’ the Warriors have played as 5 of the 7 games were decided by one goal, including two in overtime.
The Warriors enter action on Saturday night having not played in six days with their last game being a 3-1 loss to the hands of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Sunday afternoon at the Shaw Centre. Michael Lombardi tallied his 1st goal as a Warrior (and 3rd overall on the season) but West Kelowna would only get the one as AP netminder Ethan Langenegger stopped 36 saves for his first win in his first career start to help the ‘Backs to the victory.
Warriors Leading Scorers:
Jared Marino (6-7-13)
Cavin Tilsley (3-9-12)
Michael Ryan (1-10-11)
Chase Dubois (6-4-10)
Matt Kowalski (5-5-10)
As October is coming to an end and the fall season is quickly upon us, the Warriors schedule will begin to get busy with a lot of action coming against their own division. 11 of the next 13 games for West Kelowna will come against their own division, in which they own a 4-3-0-0 record against in 7 games so far this season. Included in those 11 games will be 6 that come against either the Vipers or the Penticton Vees. Plenty of short but difficult games ahead for West Kelowna in a logjam that is the Interior Division.
Some commitment news was announced for the Warriors on Wednesday as forward Chase Stevenson has committed to play for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats for the 2019/20 season. The West Kelowna, BC product has been great since pulling on a Warriors jersey last season, posting 13 goals and 28 points in 49 games with the Warriors including 3 goals and 8 points in 16 games so far this season. The Warriors do have some familiarity with the program as Stevenson will join former Warrior and National Champion Liam Blackburn.
More commitment news came down on Thursday for the Warriors as defenseman Stephen Kleysen has committed to the Niagara University Purple Eagles for the 2018/19 season. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native has collected 9 goals and 33 points in 73 games so far in a Warriors jersey and is off to a strong start this season with 3 goals and 10 points in 15 games played.
The Vernon Vipers enter play on Saturday with an 11-4-2-0 record and sit in the top spot in the Interior Division after a 4-1 victory on home ice on Friday against the Wenatchee Wild. Brett Stapley scored twice in the game while Jagger Williamson and Jimmy Lambert added singles in the victory. Anthony Yamnitsky got the start in the Vipers goal where he made 32 saves on 33 shots against his former club for his 5th win of the season and a first star effort.
Vipers Leading Scorers:
Brett Stapley (10-13-23)
Jimmy Lambert (8-14-22)
Michael Ufberg (2-12-14)
Jagger Williamson (7-6-13)
Keyvan Mokhtari (6-5-11)
The Vipers are off to a strong start in the new season and have nine returnees including captain Jagger Williamson along with forwards Brett Stapley, Jesse Lansdell, Niko Karamanis and Jimmy Lambert to go with defensemen Michael Ufberg, Shane Kelly, Sol Seibel, Chris Jandric and goaltender Ty Taylor while getting some big offseason acquisitions in the likes of forward Jordan Sandhu from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, forward Keyvan Mokhtari from the Victoria Grizzlies and goaltender Anthony Yamnitsky from Wenatchee.
A pair of returning players are doing the most damage for the Vipers right now as forwards Brett Stapley and Jimmy Lambert sit #2 and #4 in the league in scoring, respectively. The Denver University commit Stapley has points in 5 straight games, scoring 4 goals and adding 5 assists for 9 points in that span while his line mate Lambert is equally on a 5-game point streak with 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points during that stretch.
Vernon comes into their first matchup of the season against the Warriors just two points ahead of them in standings, making for a big battle of Interior Division foes. The Vipers have won four of their last five games while outscoring their opposition by a 23-6 margin over that span to go along with a 4-1-2-0 record at Kal Tire Place in 7 games this season on their home ice.
The Warriors and Vipers drop the puck at 6:00 PM with the pre-game show getting underway at 5:45 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and HockeyTV.com with the voice of the Warriors, Trevor Miller. West Kelowna finishes their three-game stretch away from Royal LePage Place on Sunday afternoon with a matinee against the Merritt Centennials at 2:00 PM at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena before returning to RLP next Friday, November 3rd to host the Penticton Vees.
The Warriors have introduced a new Fan’tatstic Five ticket package that gives fans a chance to experience five of the most highly anticipated games of the season for just $55.55 with games against the Wenatchee Wild, Penticton Vees, Salmon Arm Silverbacks, Vernon Vipers and Victoria Grizzlies. For more information on these packs and all ticket info, visit the Warriors office or call (250) 769-7051.
