The Alberni Valley Bulldogs had a busy, storm-filled weekend that saw them open their newly expanded office, come from behind to beat the West Kelowna Warriors and postpone their game against Trail Smoke Eaters until Monday night because BC Ferries cancellations meant the Smoke Eaters were stuck on the other side of Georgia Strait.
In between, they also made a couple of player transactions.
Team and city officials gathered on Friday afternoon to cut the official ribbon signifying the end of construction on the office. The expansion offers a ticket counter and retail space that opens up to the Multiplex on one side, and was built with local labour and wood products.
The Bulldogs beat West Kelowna Warriors 4–2 in Friday night’s contest. Kelowna was leading 2–1 in the second period but Eric Margo tied it and Josh Adkins scored twice in the third period to seal the win.
Friday was Owen Johnson’s first game in a Bulldogs’ uniform after the ‘Dogs and Surrey Eagles swapped defencemen—Alberni sending 1995-born blueliner Tyler Cooper to the Eagles for 20-year-old Johnson.
“Owen is a 20-year-old who’s got more experience in the BCHL,” Bulldogs’ coach Kevin Willison said Friday afternoon. “We’re looking to him for leadership. We need a little bit of improvement on the back and these kinds of trades don’t come every day. We had to give up youth to get a veteran.”
The Saturday home game against Trail was postponed due to the storm whipping the West Coast that forced BC Ferries to cancel several routes. The Smoke Eaters had been enroute from Powell River where they defeated the Kings 4–2 on Friday.
On Monday, the Bulldogs picked up Rhett Willcox from the Cowichan Valley Capitals in exchange for future considerations.