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Season over for Warriors

Itº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù™s been a bittersweet week for fans of the West Kelowna Warriors.
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Braiden Epp (left) and the West Kelowna Warriors were eliminated from the BCHL playoffs Tuesday by the Merritt Centennials. Ken Reid/Greystoke Photography

Itº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù™s been a bittersweet week for fans of the West Kelowna Warriors.

On Friday night, the BCHL clubº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù™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 Fersterº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù™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 homeº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù”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 wouldnº¦Ðß²ÝÑо¿Ëù™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.



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