A hometown hero, an acclaimed goaltender, and an accomplished coaching staff.
These are some of the ingredients the West Kelowna Warriors are hoping will lead them to new heights this season.
The newly-branded BCHL club opens its training camp next Friday (Aug. 24th), with players already arriving in Okanagan for the highly-anticipated 2012-13 campaign.
West Kelowna’s own Max French is set to lead the team into his final year of Junior before he heads to Bentley University next season.
The Warriors are also looking impressive between the pipes. Tyler Briggs, a new acquisition, is the reigning AJHL goaltender of the year, and also won a Gold medal with Team Canada West at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge last year in Langley. Briggs will be leaned on heavily to provide West Kelowna with more stability in goal this year, and will be joined by promising 19 year-old Garrett Rockafellow.
A combination of young, skilled forwards and mobile, veteran defencemen has West Kelowna buzzing about this team’s chances this year.
“We couldn’t be more excited for the group we have coming in this year” says Head Coach/GM Rylan Ferster. “We’ve got all the tools we need to be a contender, and everyone’s hungry to get going.” Ferster will again be joined behind the bench by Associate Coach Brent Gough, as well as new Assistant Shae Naka.
This year’s training camp will be intense, with only three days of workouts before the first exhibition tilt. In total, the Warriors will play four pre-season contests before opening the regular season at the BCHL showcase in Chilliwack, Sept. 7-9.
Visit www.westkelownawarriors.ca for full exhibition and regular season schedule details. For Jon Zacks’ ongoing Warriors blog, check out www.thegeneralsreport.wordpress.com all season long.
