The West Kelowna Warriors close out their three-game Island road trip on Sunday with an afternoon affair against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs from the Weyerhaeuser Arena.
Season Series:
Sunday, October 30th @ Weyerhaeuser Arena (2:00 PM)
Saturday, December 3rd @ Royal LePage Place (7:00 PM)
The Warriors enter today with a victory in their back pocket after a 3-2 victory in Duncan last night against the Cowichan Valley Capitals to rid them of a seven-game losing stretch and pick up their first win since October 4th. Reed Gunville, Chase Dubois and Braiden Epp all scored in the victory while Trevor Martin dazzled with 35 saves on 37 shots for his first win as a West Kelowna Warrior.
The Warriors and Bulldogs meet twice in last season’s regular season where the Bulldogs took both of the meetings between the two clubs. A 10-4 loss marred the Warriors in November on home ice while a 4-2 loss in Alberni for the Warriors happened in December to give the Bulldogs two wins over West Kelowna over the course of last season.
The Warriors will look for four of a possible six points on the weekend after snapping their losing skid on Saturday night in Cowichan Valley and will turn to Shane Farkas as he gets a start in between the pipes for the Warriors today in the matinee to round out the Island road trip.
The Warriors have had their troubles when it comes to playing the Bulldogs as West Kelowna is 1-2-0-1 in their last four trips to Weyerhaeuser Arena as well as having a 2-4-0-1 record against their foes from Alberni Valley in their last seven matchups.
Alberni Valley holds the league’s 9th best PP with a 21.7% rate while the Warriors PP sits at 14th in the league operating at a 16.4% clip. West Kelowna’s penalty kill sits 13th in the BCHL with a 76.0% success rate while the Bulldogs find themselves at 7th with a 80.3% PK.
The Bulldogs enter today sitting in 5th in the Island Division with a 4-11-0-2 record and recently coming off of a 4-3 loss last night against the Powell River Kings on home ice. Jake Witkowski, Trevor Cosgrove and Ryan Steele all tallied in the loss while 2nd year goaltender Brody Claeys made 26 saves on 30 shots directed his way in the defeat.
Alberni Valley is led in scoring by defenseman and Colgate University commit Trevor Cosgrove, who has 2 goals and 15 points in 17 games this season. Jake Witkowski (8-5-13) and Tristan Bukovec (5-7-12) round out the top three in scoring for the Bulldogs, who sit in last in the BCHL with 42 goals for this season. Backstopping the Bulldogs this season are a pair of second year ‘Dogs in Claeys and Kelowna native Carson Schamerhorn.
Puck drop is slated at 2:00 PM with the pre-game show airing at 1:50 PM on the Warriors Internet Network and hockeytv.com with Warriors play-by-play voice Trevor Miller.
