The Selkirk College Saints Men’s Hockey program will see its 2012/13 preseason draw to a close
on Sunday afternoon when the Eastern Washington University Eagles visit the Castlegar Recreation Complex for a 2:00 PM faceoff.
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 (by an 8-2 score) and their BCIHL rivals from Thompson
Rivers University (4-3).
A pair of key players will make their preseason debuts against the
Eagles, as second-year defenceman Justin Sotkowy (Victoria, B.C.) and
first-year goaltender Alex Sirard (Calgary, AB) 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.
“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,” says 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.”
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. 2011/12
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 $5.00 and Season
Pass information is available at the team’s website — www.GoSaints.ca.
