Centennials wrap up the season with a pair of blowout loses

The Merritt Centennials played the final tow games of the 2022/23 season over the weekend, one on the road and one at home.

Friday (March 24) night, the Cents went on the final road trip of the year, to play the West Kelowna Warriors. Wrapping up the 50th anniversary season at home on Saturday (March 25) against the Vernon Vipers.

Friday, March 24: Merritt Centennials @ West Kelowna Warriors

The Merritt Centennials would give up four goals, three on the powerplay, in the opening period. Within the first minute and a half, a returning Jackson Krill would be sent to the box for hooking. Rylee Hlusiak would pot his 20th goal of the season while on the man advantage. Five minutes later, Jake Bernadet would sneak the puck into the back of the net, his 11th of the season. Coming out of the BCHL media timeout, Carter Schmidt would dish out a trip, landing himself two minutes in the box. With only two seconds left of having an extra attacker, Riley Sharun would score the powerplay goal, hitting double digits ten goals on the season. With the period coming to an end, Diego Johnson would head to the sin bin for slashing. Back on the man advantage, with time ticking down, Ben MacDonald would score with three seconds left in the opening frame. Final after the first, 4-0.

Coming out of the locker room, Ryder Gregga would replace Connor Sullivan. In the first period, Sullivan made 15/19 saves. Adding more goals in the second period, the Warriors offense was just getting started. Krill would once again take an early period penalty, this time for tripping. Right off the ensuing faceoff, Luke Devlin would hammer home the powerplay goal for his 11th tally on the season. At the 9:01 mark, Brennan Nelson would extend the lead further with his 12th goal of the season. The Warriors would then add back-to-back goals coming out of the BCHL media timeout. Marik Mamic would snipe home the puck from in the slot for his first career BCHL goal. Less than a minute later, it was the Warriors leading scorer, Jaiden Moriello finding the back of the net for the 24th time this season. At the 14:26 mark, Connor Farren would get a slashing call against him in the same play MacDonald would be handed  a 10 minute misconduct. Coming out of the play, the Cents would be a man down. Mamic would pick up the puck in the crease during a scramble and tuck it into the net for his second of the game. With under two minutes to go in the middle frame, Bernadet grabbed his second of the game as well for the Warriors sixth goal of the period. Final after the second, 10-0.

The Warriors would match their first period goal total in the final 20 minutes. Farren would be sitting in the box again, this time for high sticking. Michael Salandra only needed 23 seconds of five-on-four time to score the powerplay goal for his 16th of the year. At the 8:22 mark, Hlusiak would drive to the net and find the twine for the second time in the game. Michael Shara would then take his turn in the penalty box for tripping. Isaiah Norlin would fire a seeing eye shot from the point and pick the top corner, his first powerplay goal of the season. Not happy with the 13 goal lead, Matthew Lee would add his name to the scoring list with a minute and a half left in the game. Final score, 14-0.

Entering the game for the final two periods, Gregga stopped 28/38 shots faced, with Sullivan taking the lose. In the game, the Warriors went 7/8 on the powerplay.

Saturday, March 25: Merritt Centennials VS Vernon Vipers

The Merritt Centennials played the final game of the regular season in front of their home fans but found themselves down early to a familiar face. Former Centennial, Walker Erickson who was traded at the deadline, would take advantage of the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena’s smaller dimensions and snipe home his 17th of the season in his first game against his former team. Three minutes later, Thomas Tien would complete a back door passing play for his seventh of the year. With 47 seconds left in the period, Kyle Isenberg would be sent to the box for roughing, this would be the only penalty for either team throughout the entire game. Final after the first, 2-0.

The flood gates were burst wide open in the second period. Within the first two minutes, Anthony Cliche would let the puck go from the point, finding the back of the net for his first goal of the season in the final game. Six minutes would go by before the Vipers found the back of the net again. Reagan Milburn would grab his 18th of the season with a nice passing play coming into the offensive zone. More scoring would come fast and furious for the Vipers. At 9:14, Tien would find the twine for his second of the game. 30 seconds later, it was Ethan Merner’s turn who slide the puck five-hole on a breakaway for his third of the season. Just over a minute later, Lee Parks extended the lead even further with his 22nd of the campaign. In the final game at the NVMA for the season, Diego Johnson would give the home crowd something to cheer about, getting the Cents on the board with his 12th of the season. Johnsons goal would snap a 158:34 scoreless drought for the Cents dating back to three games ago against the Wenatchee Wild (March 17th). On the goal, Christian Lowe would grab an assist in his last game. Vernon would grab back the momentum as Griffen Barr scored his third goal of the season at the 16:49 mark. In the final two minutes, the Vipers would continue pouring it on, scoring another two. The captain, Seiya Tanaka-Campbell finished off the play on the rush for his 13th of the year. 16 seconds later, off the ensuing faceoff, Jonathan Horn would grab his teams eighth goal of the period. Final after the second, 10-1.

It was more of the same scoring for the Vipers in the third. Within the first three minutes, Julian Facchinelli made it 11 with his 11th goal of the season. Before the BCHL media timeout, Parks would rifle home his second of the game. At the 12:41 mark, Hank Cleaves would join his first line teammates with a goal but scoring his 13th of the year. Not happy with 13, Milburn would add another with two minutes left in the game. Final score 14-1.

Connor Sullivan took the lose while making 52/66 saves in the game. As overagers, Christian Lowe and Jackson Murphy-Johnson, played in their final game of their BCHL careers, were given the first and second stars of the game.

On the season, the Merritt Centennials would finish in 9th in the Interior conference with 29 points, putting up a 12-37-3-2 record.