West Kelowna Warriors (1-0-0-0) (29-21-0-8, 4th Interior)
Penticton Vees (0-0-0-1) (44-9-3-2, 1st in Interior)
GM 2 Venue: SOEC
GM 2 Face-Off: 7pm
Season Series: Oct 10th 4-3 Vees, SOEC, Oct 11th 4-0 Vees, Royal LePage Place, Nov 5th 3-2 Warriors, SOEC, Nov 29th 4-3 Warriors, SOEC, Dec 19th 4-2 Vees, SOEC, Dec 20th 7-2 Vees, Royal LePage Place, Jan 20th 8-4 Vees, Royal LePage Place
Playoff Series Schedule
Game 1 4-3 (2 OT) West Kelowna
Game 2 March 4th (SOEC) 7pm
Game 3 March 6th (Royal LePage Place) 7pm
Game 4 March 7th (Royal LePage Place) 7pm
Game 5* March 9th (SOEC) 7pm
Game 6* March 10th (Royal LePage Place) 7pm
Game 7* March 11th (SOEC) 7pm
* If necessary
Vees Regular Season Record vs. West Kelowna: 5-2-0-0 (Home: 2-2-0 / Away: 3-0-0)
Home Regular Season Record: 25-3-1-0 (24-3-1-0 at SOEC)
Vees Record vs. Interior Division: 26-7-1-1
Vees Leading Scorer: Patrick Newell 16-31-47
Vees Playoff Scoring:
Demico Hannoun 1-0-1
Tyson Jost 1-0-1
Lewis Zerter-Gossage 1-0-1
Gabe Bast 0-1-1
Connor Chartier 0-1-1
Dakota Conroy 0-1-1
Patrick Sexton 0-1-1
Playoff Goaltending vs. West Kelowna
Hunter Miska 0-1-0 / 2.81 GAA / .885 save-percentage
Vees Regular Season Scoring vs. West Kelowna:
Lewis Zerter-Gossage 2-8-10
Patrick Newell 5-4-9
Demico Hannoun 4-5-9
Tyson Jost 4-2-6
Riley Alferd 2-3-5
Steen Cooper 2-3-5
Dakota Conroy 2-3-5
Cody DePourcq 1-4-5
Connor Chartier 4-0-4
Mike Lee 1-3-4
Jack Ramsey 1-3-4
Gabe Bast 0-3-3
Dante Fabbro 0-3-3
Matt Serratore 2-0-2
Patrick Sexton 1-1-2
Miles Gendron 0-2-2
Jarod Hilderman 0-2-2
Mitch Newsome 0-2-2
Cam Amantea 0-1-1
Goaltending vs. West Kelowna:
Hunter Miska GP 6 4-2-0 / 2.51 GAA / .912 SV % / 1 SO
Brendan Barry GP 1 1-0-0 / 3.00 GAA / .57 SV %
Vees Situational Scoring:
Score 1st: 31-4-2-2 (0-0-0-1)
Opposition Scores 1st: 13-5-2-0
Lead after 1st: 22-1-1-1
Tied after 1st: 17-5-1-1 (0-0-0-1)
Trail after 1st: 5-3-1-0
Lead after 2nd: 39-2-1-1 (0-0-0-1)
Tied after 2nd: 4-2-2-1
Trail after 2nd: 3-5-0-0
More Shots: 38-9-0-1 (0-0-0-1)
Outshot: 6-0-2-1
Shots Tied: 0-0-1-0
Warriors Regular Season Record vs. Penticton: 2-5-0-0 (Home: 0-3-0 / Away: 2-2-0)
Warriors Regular Season Road Record: 11-12-0-6
Warriors Record vs. Interior Division: 16-15-0-4
Warriors Leading Scorer: Liam Blackburn 22-51-73
Warriors Playoff Scoring:
Jason Cotton 1-1-2
Andrew Johnson 0-2-2
Kyle Marino 0-2-2
Kristian Blumenschein 1-0-1
Josh Bly 1-0-1
Brayden Gelsinger 1-0-1
Tanner Campbell 0-1-1
Brett Mennear 0-1-1
Nick Rutigliano 0-1-1
Warriors Playoff Goaltending vs. Penticton
Scott Patton 1-0-0 / 2.11 GAA / 9.45 save-percentage
Warriors Regular Season Scoring vs. Penticton:
Brayden Gelsinger 2-4-6
Jonathan Desbiens 4-1-5
Liam Blackburn 2-3-5
Jason Cotton 1-2-3
Brett Mennear 1-2-3
Andrew Johnson 0-3-3
Josh Bly 2-0-2
Tanner Campbell 1-1-2
Kylar Hope 1-1-2
Braeden Jones 1-1-2
Kristian Blumenschein 0-1-1
Tyler Kunz 0-1-1
Nick Rutigliano 0-1-1
Rylan Yaremko 0-1-1
Hunter Zandee 0-1-1
Goaltending vs. Penticton:
Andy Desautels GP 5 2-3-0 / 4.31 GAA / .882 SV %
Scott Patton GP 1 0-1-0 / 4.70 GAA / .815 SV %
Warriors Situational Scoring:
Score 1st: 20-7-0-4
Opposition Scores 1st: 9-14-0-4 (1-0-0-0)
Lead after 1st: 16-5-0-3
Tied after 1st: 6-4-0-2 (1-0-0-0)
Trail after 1st: 7-12-0-3
Lead after 2nd: 21-1-0-3
Tied after 2nd: 2-4-0-2
Trail after 2nd: 6-16-0-3 (1-0-0-0)
More Shots: 16-10-0-6
Outshot: 12-11-0-2 (1-0-0-0)
Shots Tied: 1-0-0-0
What to Watch For:
Vees
- Bouncing Back: 24 hours after losing a double-overtime heartbreaker to the Warriors, the Vees have an opportunity to get a measure of revenge. They’ll have to quickly forget about last night’s result, if they haven’t already, and find a way to get a split before heading to West Kelowna for games three and four. Many will say last night was an “upset” and I can definitely see that argument if you base that on the regular season standings, but as we saw, the regular season has little bearing on the playoffs and the Warriors showed they’re no slouch. In fact, I’ve said this a lot lately but West Kelowna isn’t a true four seed. This is a team that’s deep up front and very physical on the blue-line. For whatever reason, injuries mainly, the Warriors had their struggles but now are peaking at the right time. The Vees have to forget the notion that this is a “one versus four” matchup and rather focus on going out and getting a split tonight. Way too early to hit the panic button and start doubting themselves. This is a best-of-seven for a reason; stick to the process.
- Closing the Door: The Vees have struggled to put teams away this season and lately on home ice; especially West Kelowna. They were 39-2-1-1 when leading after two periods in the regular season, and you guessed it, those two loses came against West Kelowna and both were at the SOEC; last night was the same story. The Vees had chances to go up 4-2 in the third period but couldn’t capitalize and the Warriors hung around long enough to get an equalizer and force OT. The Vees first need to get a lead and then need to build upon it and not give West-K any hope of coming back. Yes, easier said than done but its critical. Part in parcel with that is the Vees finishing their chances. They had plenty of opportunities to put the puck in the net but were either stopped by Patton or plagued by shooting wide. Patton had a .945 save-percentage last night and you would have to guess he can’t sustain that clip over seven games. Not saying his save-percentage is going to dramatically plummet but the Vees have to keep steering pucks to the net; wear West Kelowna down.
- Battle in the Face-Off Circle: The Vees did a good job of establishing their presence down low in the offensive end, cycling pucks and in turn earning offensive zone face-offs. The issue was them losing those ensuing draws and allowing the Warriors to get out of the zone and get fresh bodies on the ice. If the Vees want to wear down their opponent and try and take advantage of tired legs, they’re going to need to win more draws in that West-K end and get them chasing. Guys like Andrew Johnson and Brett Mennear were tough to beat on the draw and that allowed West Kelowna to continually get out of potential trouble. If the Vees are going to lean on their opponent tonight, they’re going to need to start with the puck when they’re in the attacking end.
Warriors
- Act Two: Can Scott Patton duplicate his game one performance tonight? He stopped 52 of 55 Vees shots and the scoring chances in the game were something around 20-6 for the Vees. That doesn’t include two of West Kelowna’s goals, because they ended up touching or going off a Vee before going in. Patton had a .945 save-percentage last night which is out of this world type stuff but can that be sustained over the series or even tonight? If the Vees continue to put that many pucks on net, does fatigue start to play a factor? Patton was very good on Tuesday, as he kept getting his body in front of shots and did so in clutch situations. He’ll need to be on his game again tonight and I’m curious to see if he can keep it up.
- Momentum: So big in the playoffs, when you have it, you feel like world beaters and when you don’t, you can feel like the walls are crashing in around you. The Warriors have been playing playoff hockey for the last month, as they were battling to the bitter end to get into the post-season. They won five straight to end the regular season and got points in their last six before last night. They’ll be flying high after last night’s dramatic win and the Vees will need to find a way to take that momentum, confidence away. The worse thing would be for West Kelowna to get up early and play with the lead. The Warriors are peaking at the right time, their confident in themselves and feel like they can take this series. It’s up to the Vees to show them otherwise.
- Big Guns: Liam Blackburn didn’t play last night but is listed on tonight’s line-up but he was also on their line-up sheet in game one; we’ll say he’s a game-time decision. If Blackburn can’t go again tonight, the likes of Jason Cotton, Brayden Gelsinger and Andrew Johnson will need to step up once again. I really liked Cotton’s game last night, as he slid over to the center position and didn’t look out of place. Gelsinger is always dangerous when the puck is on his stick and he was making things happen last night. Those three, along with others like Jonathan Desbiens and Tanner Campbell will need a repeat performance. They have one of the deepest top 6-9 forward groups in the BCHL and it was showcased last night. Can those guys take control of game two?
