Cents Game Day – Merritt vs West Kelowna – Jan 5/22

Date – Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Game Time – Puck drop 7:00 pm

Location – Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, Merritt B.C.

Broadcast –Q101 & BCHLTV

West Kelowna – 18-10-0-0

Merritt Centennials – 2-21-1-0

The Merritt Centennials will look to keep the good times rolling tonight at the NVMA versus West K. The Cents are coming off back to back solid efforts under Head Coach Curtis Toneff, and a big 3-2 OT win on Sunday night.

The Cranbrook Bucks made their first ever visit to the NVMA on Sunday afternoon, riding a five game win streak. It didn’t take long for the Bucks to find the back of the net with AJ Vasko finding the rebound of a weak point shot to open the scoring.

The Bucks would pour on the pressure following their goal but Merritt would hold the line. Shortly after, Ben Ward would draw a penalty and on the ensuing powerplay younger brother Sam Ward would snipe top corner to level the score 1-1.

The first was a low shot affair with Cranbrook leading on the shot clock 8-4 after 20 minutes.

Early in the second period, Cranbrook would keep the pressure on following a failed powerplay attempt, Hayden Gelbard would beat Phillips-Watts to give the Bucks a 2-1 lead.

Merritt would only level 4 shots on goal for the second period in a row, but thanks to a solid defensive effort, would only trail 2-1 entering the final 20.

PW stopped 18/20 through two.

Merritt would be the stronger team in the third, and after Ben Ward drew another penalty, Connor Farren grabbed a blocked shot and fired past Nathan Airey to level the score 2-2.

Sixty minutes wouldn’t be enough and the game headed to overtime where once again Ben Ward played hero, sniping top corner to win.

Head Coach Curtis Toneff picking up his first career BCHL win.

PW earned first star honours stopping 33/35 in the victory.

The West Kelowna Warriors have played four straight games versus the Penticton Vees dating back to before the Christmas break, with West K going 3-1 over the span. Most recently, the Warriors won 4-3 in a shootout over the Vees Saturday night. Felix Trudeau leads the way for West K with 35 points on the year (19G, 16A).

Previous meetings;

The Cents and Warriors have met twice so far this season with both games coming in West Kelowna. In early November West K earned a 9-2 win in what was an extremely chippy affair between the two sides. Then on teddy bear toss night in December, the Cents played hard in the first period, but the Warriors took control in the second and didn’t look back for a 6-3 win.

Blue Paint Battle;

The goaltending situation in Merritt remains fluid with Johnny Hicks battling a lingering injury and a rotation of AP’s filling in the gaps, led by Colton Phillips-Watts.

Hicks, if available, is 0-4 this year with a .867 SV% and a 5.22 GAA.

PW is 1-3 with a .895 SV% and a 4.50 GAA. He picked up his first win of the season on Sunday night versus Cranbrook.

Johnny Derrick has been the main man for West Kelowna appearing in 20 games with a 13-6 record, .903 SV% and a 3.21 GAA. His backup is Justin Katz, 5-4 .916 SV% and a 2.85 GAA.

Special Teams Comparison;

Warriors – PP 19.8% (13/18) PK 79.5% (9/18)

Cents – PP 11.0% (18/18) PK 66.7% (18/18)