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 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.