PHOTO: Garrett James/BCHL
The West Kelowna Warriors look to continue their offensive ways as they play host to the red-hot Langley Rivermen at Royal LePage Place on Tuesday night.
Season Series:
Friday, November 25th @ George Preston Arena (4-2 Rivermen) (BOXSCORE)
Tuesday, February 7th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
The Warriors enter Tuesday night after a week that saw two wins on three tries as they defeated the Vernon Vipers 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday before they dropped a 6-2 decision in Merritt on Friday followed by a 10-2 victory over the Coquitlam Express at home on Saturday night. Chase Stevenson, Jordan Todd, Chase Dubois, Quin Foreman, Cavin Tilsley, Michael Ryan, Tyler Jutting, Jon Russell, Parm Dhaliwal and Logan Mostat all tallied in the win while Gabriel Morency made 21 saves on 23 shots for his 2nd win as a member of the Warriors.
The Warriors and Rivermen have played once in their two-game season series with the “Riv” taking the game by a 4-2 score. Jared Marino and Quin Foreman scored in the game for the Warriors in the defeat, the middle of a three-game Mainland trip for West Kelowna. Shane Farkas started in goal on the night for the Warriors and made 36 saves on 39 shots in the loss.
Saturday was an offensive explosion for the Warriors as they tallied ten goals from ten different goal scorers and got to double digits for the first time in a span of 298 games played. January 8th/2012 against the Victoria Grizzlies at Royal LePage Place was the last time the Warriors hit the double-digit mark in goals before Saturday’s effort. Travis Blanleil and Connor Dempsey shared three point performances on the January night for the Warriors before 10 different goal scorers hit the scoresheet on Saturday.
With the victory on Saturday, the Warriors officially clinched a playoff spot for the 5th consecutive season. The Warriors have made it past round number one two of their last four playoff seasons with last season carrying West Kelowna all the way past the BCHL and Western Canada Cup to the RBC Cup National Championship for their first in franchise history. The Warriors currently sit in 4th in the Interior Division with 50 points, just two behind the Trail Smoke Eaters for 3rd place in the division.
A pair of players are celebrating a milestone on Tuesday as forward Quin Foreman and defensemen Jake Harrison will play in their 100th career regular season game in the BCHL. Foreman leads the team with 38 assists and 61 points on the season and is currently riding a streak of points in 12 of 13 games with five goals and 19 points during that stretch. The Norwood, Massachusetts native sits at 87 points in his 99 career games thus far in the BCHL. Harrison sits at four goals and 18 points this season in 38 games played and holds 10 goals and 45 points in his 99 career games and is third in points from defensemen on the Warriors behind Michael Ryan and Stephen Kleysen.
The Warriors will remain without the likes of captain Nicholas Rutigliano as well as Jared Marino, Peter Tomaras and Jonas Gordon. West Kelowna has called up a pair of players from the Pursuit of Excellence hockey academy. 15-year-old defenseman Connor Horning will play his 2nd game with the Warriors as well as 17-year-old forward Juanre Naude will also appear in his 2nd game with the club.
The Langley Rivermen enter Tuesday night sitting in 3rd place in the Mainland Division with a 26-16-2-5 record and coming off a big 11-2 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at home on Saturday night. Angus Crookshank tallied a hat trick with Cooper Leitch while Cameron Ginnetti, Ryan Barrow, John Schuldt, Brendan Budy, Gavin Payne and Zac Masson added singles in the win. Bo Didur started the game for the ‘Riv and picked up 39 saves on 41 shots for his 16th win of the season.
The Rivermen come into Royal LePage Place as one of the hottest teams in the BCHL with a 15-3-0-2 record over their last twenty games played. During that span, the Rivermen have outscored their opposition by an impressive 101-57 margin and has scored 6 or more goals ten times over their last 20 games. Rivermen fourth year netminder Bo Didur has had something to do with that success as he has won 5 of his last 7 starts.
Langley has scored 210 goals in 49 games played this season and sit 4th in the BCHL in that category. 2nd year forward Ryan Barrow leads the Rivermen in goals with 26 and points at 63 as he sits in a tie for 6th in the league scoring with Powell River’s Tristan Mullin with his 63 points. Sophomore defenseman Cameron Ginnetti leads the club in assists with 44 in 49 games played this season. An impressive rookie season is being had by 16-year-old high end forward Brendan Budy who has 15 goals and 40 points in his first season in the BCHL as he sits 18 points of the next 2000-born player in the league in scoring.
Another rookie who is having success for the Rivermen is 17-year-old forward Angus Crookshank as the University of New Hampshire commit has 16 points in 22 games this season. Since being injured on the first shift of his season and missing a significant amount of time, the Rivermen own a record of 16-3-0-2, just about the time Langley started to get on their recent hot stretch of play.
The puck drops at 7:00 PM on Tuesday night with tickets available at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051. Tuesday also marks the Warriors Blood Drive as fans can give blood at the game to help out those in need. Face-off is 7:00 PM so head down early to catch the Warriors against one of the hottest teams in the BCHL.
