The West Kelowna Warriors look to make it back-to-back wins with a stiff test from south of the border in the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday night at Royal LePage Place.
Season Series:
Saturday, November 19th @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
Saturday, November 26th @ Town Toyota Center (7:00 PM)
The Warriors come into Saturday night’s action after a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory against the Vernon Vipers on Friday night at RLP. Chase Dubois and Michael Ryan scored in regulation for the Warriors to get the club back from down to 2-0 after one period to tie the game after 60 minutes before Connor Sodergren scored the game winner just 29 seconds into overtime to get a 3-2 win. Shane Farkas made 31 saves on 33 shots for his 6th victory of his rookie season.
This will be the first meeting between the Warriors and the expansion Wild and West Kelowna hopes the season series this year goes much like the one the two teams had last season. The Warriors won both games against Wenatchee last season, starting with a 4-2 victory on October 4th against the Wild at Royal LePage Place before heading to Wenatchee on American Thanksgiving to pick up a 4-3 win over the Wild down south of the border.
West Kelowna picked up their 3rd overtime victory of the season on Friday night versus Vernon as Reed Gunville, Matthew Campese and Connor Sodergren have tallied goals for the Warriors in extra time this season. Sodergren’s was his 9th goal of the season and his first goal since November 2nd in Salmon Arm, a span of three games. The goal also gave Sodergren a new career high in light the lamp as he overtook his total of eight from last year.
The Warrior power play finally struck for a goal on Friday night courtesy of Chase Dubois, a welcome sight for everyone’s eyes. The man advantage had gone 0 for it’s last 12 and hadn’t scored since November 2nd in Salmon Arm, a span of four games. The penalty kill still is in need of a bit of work, having allowing a goal against in each of the last six games, not having been perfect since October 29th against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
With the overtime victory last night, the Warriors got themselves out of last place in the BCHL’s Interior Division and gave them 21 points, good enough for 5th place in the division. The overtime win was the third for the Warriors on the season and is tied for the 2nd most overtime triumphs in the BCHL, behind only the Penticton Vees, who have four this season.
The Wild enter tonight’s game coming off of back-to-back losses, which is a first for the club this season. Wenatchee lost on Wednesday by a 7-3 score in Chilliwack against the Chiefs before a 4-1 defeat to the hands of the Merritt Centennials last night in Merritt. AJ Vanderbeek scored the lone Wild tally while Garrett Nieto started the game, allowing a goal on three shots and only played 8:52 before Anthony Yamnitsky played the remainder of the game, stopping 15 of the 17 shots sent his way.
The neighbours to the south are having a fantastic sophomore season in the BC Hockey League, owning a record of 17-4-0-1 and leading the Mainland Division. One big reason why is because they score, a lot. Wenatchee leads the BCHL with 119 goals for, averaging 5.40 goals for a game and have the second most wins in the BCHL, behind the Vees twenty.
With all the scoring, the Wild boast two of the top three scorers in the league as 20-year-old forwards Brendan Harris and Charlie Combs sit first and third respectively in scoring. Harris leads the league with 42 points in 22 games, including an impressive 32 assists in the time while Combs has lit the lamp on a regular basis this year, scoring 26 goals in 22 games and owning 37 points, good for third in the BCHL this season.
The Warriors and Wild drop the puck at 7:00 PM tonight from Royal LePage Place with tickets being available at the Warriors office or by calling Kim at (250) 769-7051.
