Warriors look to continue winning ways
Fresh off a weekend sweep of their most bitter rival, the Westside Warriors are looking for a measure of revenge against a relative stranger.
The Langley Chiefs beat the Warriors 5-3 at Royal LePage Place the night before Remembrance Day and it’s safe to say the West Kelowna boys haven’t forgotten, even though they are riding the high of beating Penticton twice.
The Warriors and Chiefs meet again, this time in Langley, on Thursday night (note the 8:30 p.m. start time).
“They came to our rink, we had a pretty bad effort, and they embarrassed us,” Warriors forward Alex Grieve said this week before practice. “Hopefully we can re-pay the favour.”
Colton Beck, a 19-year-old from Langley who has committed to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks for next season, had two goals and three assists in that game Nov. 10. Beck is the current B.C. Hockey League player-of-the-week. He has 16 goals and 18 assists in 26 games this season.
“He (Beck) is a pretty skilled forward and he can put the puck in from anywhere,” said Grieve, a 19-year-old from Calgary who often gets the assignment against the other team’s top line, although that’s tough for Warriors coach Darren Yopyk to pull off on the road.
Andrew Walsh, an 18-year-old from Dawson Creek, made 43 saves in goal to earn the victory for the Chiefs on Nov. 10. Walsh has a 10-8 win-loss record, a 3.32 goals against average and an .897 save percentage. He will likely start in goal for Langley on Thursday. Wyatt Waselenchuk, a 20-year-old from Port Moody, is Walsh’s backup.
Forwards Marcus Watson (a 20-year-old from San Jose, Calif.) and Brendan Thompson (a 19-year-old from North Vancouver) each have 22 points for the Chiefs (14-9-1-2, fourth in the Coastal Conference) this season.
The Warriors (16-9-0-0) are three points behind third-place Salmon Arm in the Interior Conference, but the Warriors have three games in hand. The Westsiders are coming off an impressive home-and-home sweep against their closest and most bitter rival, the Penticton Vees.
Warriors co-captain Trevor Bailey, a 20-year-old from Winfield, had five goals in the two victories last weekend, including four in Penticton on Friday night. He leads the Warriors with 22 goals and 22 assists for 44 points, third in the league (second in goals).
Cam Reid, an 18-year-old from the Lower Mainland who is committed to the University of New Hampshire next season and was a seventh round pick of the Nashville Predators last summer, has 33 points in only 19 games.
Brendan Ellis, a 20-year-old from Kelowna, is second in league scoring among defencemen with 27 points.
Warriors goaltender Kevin Jebson made 36 saves but took the loss Nov. 10 against Langley. The 20-year-old from Surrey has a 15-7 record, a 2.93 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.
The two wins against Penticton on the weekend moved Jebson ahead of Stephen Caple for top spot in career goaltender wins for a Warrior (42). Seventeen-year-old Cam Gorchynski from Chilliwack is Jebson’s backup.
The Warriors are third in the league on the power play (25 per cent), the Chiefs are seventh (19 per cent). Langley is fifth in the BCHL on the penalty kill (84 per cent), less than a percentage point better than the sixth-ranked Warriors penalty kill.
The Warriors continue this road trip with games in Nanaimo (Saturday) and Victoria (Sunday). Listen to John Harding’s play-by-play of all Warriors games through www.bchl.ca.
The Warriors return home for a game against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Thursday, Nov. 26. Game time is 7 p.m. at Royal LePage Place. For tickets to all Warriors home games, call 250-762-5050 or go to westsidewarriors.ca.
You can also purchase tickets at all Select Your Ticket outlets, at the Warriors office and at the box office starting one hour prior to game time.
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