Saints go for exhibition sweep against Eagles
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Selkirk Saints look to continue its winning ways during the exhibition season when the Men’s Hockey team hosts Eastern Washington University Eagles visit the Castlegar Recreation Complex for a 2 p.m. puck drop.
The match-up represents the third and final exhibition tune-up for the
Saints, who have posted back-to-back victories over the KIJHL’s Beaver
Valley Nitehawks (8-2) and their BCIHL rivals from Thompson
Rivers University (4-3).
“Sunday’s game against EWU is a great opportunity to gauge where we’re
at as a group and fine-tune some aspects of our play,” said Saints head coach Jeff Dubois.
“We’ve had two good performances in exhibition so far and we’ll expect to build on that momentum as we prepare for a very challenging weekend at UVic to open our regular season at the start of October.”
A pair of key players will make their preseason debuts against the Eagles, as second-year defenceman Justin Sotkowy and first-year goaltender Alex Sirard will both draw into the line-up.
Sotkowy’s 23 points last season placed him third in scoring amongst BCIHL blueliners, while Sirard brings experience with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos and SJHL’s Melville Millionaires.
The Eagles line-up features a number of new faces that will be familiar
to local hockey fans, including former Trail Smoke Eaters forward Uriah
Machuga.
The 20-year old forward was amongst the KIJHL’s scoring leaders
last season with 78 points in 51 games for the Spokane Braves.
Braves captain Nick Redding and former NCAA blueliner Zach Maxwell are
also among Eastern’s seven new recruits.
Tickets for Sunday’s game are available at the door for $5 and Season
Pass information is available at the team’s website — www.GoSaints.ca.
