EXPRESS MIXLR BROADCAST

Thursday, September 21, 2017

WARRIORS DROP EXPRESS AT SHOWCASE

The West Kelowna Warriors improved to 3-0 all time vs. the Express at the Bauer BCHL showcase with a 7-2 win Wednesday night. Click here for boxscore

It was the second straight year and 3rd time in the last 4 seasons the Express and Warriors met at the annual event.

The setback kept the Express winless through their first 4 games of the season (0-3-1-0).

The first period saw the Express generate some of their best chances of the game. Will Lawrence was stopped in the slot on a set up from Hunter Fraser.

Joshua Wildauer opened the scoring for the Express as he was the beneficiary of some quick passes from line mates Christian Sanda and Colby Pederson who found Wildauer alone in front of the net and he scored his first BCHL goal just shy of the 8 minute mark.



Moments later Eric Linell was inches away from doubling the Express lead as he raced into the Warriors zone and rang a shot off the post from the right wing.

Warriors forward Matt Kowalski has been a human highlight reel early in this BCHL season. He added to it late in the first period as he sped into the Express zone danced around a defender then snapped a quick shot past the glove of Reid Cooper to tie the game at 1 after 20 minutes.

West Kelowna opened the second period on a power play when Sam Kozlowski was called for hooking at the 20:00 mark.

With one second left in the power play the puck came back to Warriors defenseman Stephen Kleysen at the point who snapped a shot over the glove of Reid Cooper for a 2-1 Warriors lead.

At this point the Warriors started the pull away from the Express. Willie Reid and Chase Stevenson both scored with tap ins in front of the Express net just over 5 minutes apart, that in combination of the Express going 0 for 3 on the power play in the period saw the Warriors take a 4-1 lead into the third period.

West Kelowna did an excellent job Wednesday night getting pucks and bodies to the net which led to 4 of their goals.

Max Bulawka deftly redirected a Michael Ryan point shot and Matthew Campese was able to jam the puck under Cooper on the power play to open a 6-1 Warriors lead.

Then immediately following the third period media timeout veteran Jared Marino off a won face-off in the Express zone snapped home his second of the season for a 7-1 Warriors lead.

Rookie Haydn Delorme rounded out the scoring burying the rebound of a Doug Scott point shot for his first BCHL goal at 15:24.



The Warriors outshot the Express 52-32. West Kelowna was 2 for 3 on the power play while the Express went 0 for 3.

Up next for the Express is their second game at the showcase Sunday afternoon vs. Victoria. 

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