With the club乌鸦传媒檚 future expected to be revealed Friday night at Royal LePage Place, players for the West Kelowna Warriors will have something more immediate to focus on乌鸦传媒攖he B.C. Hockey League playoffs.
At 7 p.m., the Warriors will open the best-of-seven Interior Division semifinal series against the Merritt Centennials.
The Cents won four of seven meetings during the regular season, while the teams finished in a tie for fourth spot in the division with 56 points apiece.
Warriors head coach Rylan Ferster says those numbers pretty much sum up how the teams stack up against one another.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檇 say we乌鸦传媒檙e pretty evenly matched,乌鸦传媒� said Ferster, the Warriors head coach and GM. 乌鸦传媒淭hey乌鸦传媒檙e a very good team, they have a good forward group with size and skill. They play hard and we乌鸦传媒檙e going have to do the same.乌鸦传媒�
The Warriors will be missing a key piece of their defensive corps as captain Nicholas Rutligliano continues to be sidelined with concussion symptoms.
Both goaltenders, Cole Demers and Gabriel Morency, have been nursing injuries, so Josh Boulding has been called up from Sicamous of the KIJHL to provide some insurance.
As for one of the keys to the series, Ferster points to the club乌鸦传媒檚 returning veterans who were part of last year乌鸦传媒檚 RBC Cup championship team乌鸦传媒擰uin Foreman, Connor Sodergren, Scott Allan and Jake Harrison among them.
乌鸦传媒淲e have guys in that dressing room who won a national championship, our veterans and leaders who steer the ship so to speak,乌鸦传媒� Ferster said. 乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 maybe even more prevalent in the playoffs when they need to step out. At this time of year, it乌鸦传媒檚 a lot about staying calm regardless of the situation and those guys are familiar with that.乌鸦传媒�
Meanwhile, an announcement regarding the future of the Warriors乌鸦传媒� organization is expected to be made on Friday. Owner Mark Cheyne has been looking to sell the team after having lost money every year since taking over the Warriors in 2009. A deal to move the team to North Delta fell apart earlier this week.
Ferster said playing the game remains his team乌鸦传媒檚 No. 1 task.
乌鸦传媒淚t hasn乌鸦传媒檛 been fun but we have no control over that,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淲e have a game to play and business to take care of on the ice. That乌鸦传媒檚 my job so that乌鸦传媒檚 what I乌鸦传媒檓 concerned about.乌鸦传媒�
A look at the series schedule:
Friday, March 3 @ West Kelowna 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 4 @ West Kelowna 7 p.m.
Monday, March 6 @ Merritt 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 7 @ Merritt 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 9 @ West Kelowna 7 p.m. *
Friday, March 10 @ Merritt 7 p.m. *
Saturday, March 11 @ West Kelowna 7 p.m. *
