The Bulldogs jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead with goals in each period, starting with Joey Melo’s rebound tally on the man advantage midway through the first. They extended the edge in the second on another power-play strike before adding insurance in the third, capped by an empty-netter to seal the win.
Joey Melo scores on the Power Play to make it a 1-0 game at 8:07 of the first period with the assist on the goal going to former Battleford North Star Nikita Ivashchenko.–
Shots on goal in the first period were 9 each.
Thomas Neu with an end to end snipe upstairs makes it a 2-0 game just 57 seconds into the second period with the assist on the goal going to Latvian Krisjanis Sarts.–With the teams playing four-on-four in the second, Thomas Neu raced down the left wing, cut the middle and, from the high slot, beat Bor Glavic high to the glove side.
Shots on goal in the second period were 12-8 for the Warriors
Noah Mertz blasts one from the point to make it 3-0 as the Power Play at 14:12 of the third period unassisted. Had to feel bad for the Warriors goalie Glavic after this one. He made a bunch of stellar saves prior to being scored on.
Warriors pulled their goalie with 3 minutes remaining and Ian Alonso broke the shutout with 35 seconds left in the game. The assists on the goal went to Garrett Thom and Jack Sadowski.
Then with the Warriors net empty again Jared Langdon rifled it down to make it a 4-1 game. With the assist on the goal going to Latvian Magnuss Avotins, who had a great game in his Bulldogs debut.
Shots on goal in the third period were 12-10 for the Warriors. The Warriors outshot the Bulldogs 33-27 in the game
Carson Mertz made 32 saves on the 33 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Warriors Slovenian Bor Glavic made 23 saves on the 26 shots that he faced.
Three Stars of the game were 1) Carson Mertz 2) Thomas Neu 3) Noah Mertz
Attendance in West Kelowna was 730
Bulldogs next game is Friday September 26th in Brooks against the Brooks Bandits. The Bulldogs home opener is Saturday September 27th against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at 6pm.
This & That- West Kelowna has what appears to be a very nice arena. It seems silly that the players enter and exit away from the benches. Juan Copeland seemed to disappear from the game after the first shift. Don’t think I seen him play at all in the game, hope he is not injured. From what the announcers have said it seems the BCHL will wear dark jerseys on the road until the New Years and then switch to wearing dark jerseys at home. I noticed that there is a C. Mertz jersey this year which makes sense because there is also a N. Mertz jersey. But on Smith’s jersey it says B. Smith. I only count one Smith on the team. Is there one unaccounted for is it that Smith is just such a common name they are playing the odds that another Smith is likely to roll around.🤔🤔
