Photo: Warriors blue liner #11 Nick Ardanaz escapes a check from #3 Carsyn Good last time the Bucks and Warriors met.
Photo Credit: Tami Quan
January 22nd, 2022
West Kelowna, B.C. – The Warriors return home to host the Wenatchee Wild and Cranbrook Bucks this weekend.
The Warriors are coming off an 8-1 victory in Merritt last Wednesday. It was a game that saw a career night for Warriors Captain Elan Bar Lev Wise who recorded his first career BCHL hat-trick and ended the night with 5 total points. It still wasn’t enough according to Warriors Head Coach and General Manager Simon Ferguson who still expected more out of his team. Ferguson stated that his team were still forcing plays and knows they need to tighten up for this weekends games.
Saturday January 22nd VS Wenatchee Wild (11-11-4-1): 7:00pm (Warriors lead season series 2-1)
Sunday January 23rd VS Cranbrook Bucks (17-13-2): 2:30pm (Bucks lead season series 2-1)
This weekend the Warriors have two tough matchups. First its the Wenatchee Wild. The Warriors took the first two games of the season against the Wild South of the border but their most recent matchup was last December when the Warriors suffered a 4-1 loss at home. The Wild have drastically improved recently winning 8 of their last 9 games. They also acquired a top prospect in Parker Murray at the BCHL’s trade deadline. This Wild team is young but has shown improvement after their lack luster start to the season. The Warriors will need to take the Wild more seriously heading into Saturday nights game.
On Sunday the Warriors host the Cranbrook Bucks, another club that has had the upper hand on the Warriors as of late. The most recent loss was in November when the Bucks edged the Warriors 2-1. The Bucks play a tight defensive game and don’t surrender scoring chances quite often. This will also be the return of former Warriors forward Carter Schmidt. The 17 year old requested a trade at the deadline and was acquired via future considerations. Both Schmidt and his Bucks teammates will be extra motivated to spoil the Warriors special “Hockey Day in West K” especially after suffering two straight one goal losses at the hands of the Wenatchee Wild earlier in the week.
Saturday nights game is sponsored by Gorman Bros Lumber. Puck drop at 7:00pm from Royal LePage Place. Sunday afternoon’s game is “Hockey Day in West K” where kids under 18 get free admission if they wear a hockey jersey of their choice. Puck drop at 2:30pm from Royal LePage Place. Both game broadcasts will be available on BCHLTV(formally HockeyTV) and the Warriors Mixlr Radio Network. There are tickets available for the Warriors next home games Saturday and Sunday at westkelownawarriors.ca.
