In case Trevor Cox's first period penalty had you shaking your head in Game 1. The Tigers were killing off Emerson Etem's major penalty and hadn't put anyone in the box to serve it. With no whistles during the five-minute power play, the Tigers had no one to put on the ice when the penalty expired. So Cox jumped off the bench to rejoin the play — which is why he was called for an illegal substitution penalty.
You will recall that the same thing happened earlier in the season to the Warriors when they didn't have anyone in the penalty box when their major was killed off. Except in that instance they ended up remaining short-handed and a goal was scored shortly after the power play should have ended.
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The Warriors haven't said anything official, but the prognosis for Torrin White doesn't look very good after his knee-on-knee hit by Etem in Game 1. The comment from Warriors head coach Mike Stothers that White couldn't pivot or turn does not sound promising.
While he's an affiliate, the Tigers will also miss Chad Labelle. The 16-year-old appeared to injure his left shoulder after a big open-ice hit on Moose Jaw's Sam Fioretti in the third period. Labelle threw the check and both men went down, but Fioretti popped up.
Labelle has added a spark for the Tigers since he was called up and without the likes of Etem, Jayden Hart and Kale Kessy in the lineup, players like Labelle who have some scoring touch will be missed even more.
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It looks like Travis Brown will return for the Warriors in Game 2. The defenceman has missed the last four games with an upper body injury.
The Tigers are expected to insert affiliate defenceman Kyle Becker who played 11 games this season. They are also expected to add 16-year-old affiliate forward Cole Sanford who is from the Pursuit of Excellence program in Kelowna and played eight games in the BCHL with the Vernon Vipers.
