Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥

Skip to content

Season over for Warriors

ItÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s been a bittersweet week for fans of the West Kelowna Warriors.
web1_wk-m
Braiden Epp (left) and the West Kelowna Warriors were eliminated from the BCHL playoffs Tuesday by the Merritt Centennials. Ken Reid/Greystoke Photography

ItÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s been a bittersweet week for fans of the West Kelowna Warriors.

On Friday night, the BCHL clubÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s faithful celebrated the news that the franchise would remain in the Okanagan.

Four days later, the 2016-17 season came to an abrupt end for the defending Canadian junior A champs.

On Tuesday night, the hometown Merritt Centennials defeated the Warriors 4-3 in overtime, sweeping Rylan FersterÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™s club from the BCHL playoffs in four straight games.

Stephan Seeger tied the game for Merritt with 26 seconds remaining in the third, then scored again at 2:03 of the extra period to finish off the best-of-seven Interior Division first-round series.

The Warriors fell in a hole early in the series, losing the first two games by just one goal at homeÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥”6-5 and 4-3 in triple overtime. Merritt was a 6-2 winner in Game 3 on Monday.

Warrior fans breathed a sigh of relief on Friday night at Royal LePage Place when it was announced the club wouldnÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™t be leaving the city after all.

In January, owner Mark Cheyne had an agreement in principle to move the club to North Delta next season.

But when that deal fell through, a group of local investors stepped up to assume ownership of the Warriors, keeping the team at Royal LePage Place for the 2017-18 BCHL campaign.



About the Author: Black Press Media Staff

Read more



(or

Ï㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }