TEDDY BEAR TOSS: West Kelowna Warriors (13-6-2-0) at Merritt Centennials (9-10-2-1)

MERRITT — It’s Teddy Bear Toss Day!

Merritt Centennials – (9-10-2-1)

It seems every game is an emotional nail biter for the Merritt Centennials. The Cents only suffered one blow out loss in game two of the season against Penticton, a much different Merritt team than today’s.

Brian Passmore says the time is now for the Centennials. With some of their toughest games on the horizon it’s not going to be easy. The high flying West Kelowna are in town tonight, then a huge home-and-home against Penticton followed by 3 in 4 nights on the road during a Coastal swing.

West Kelowna Warriors (13-6-2-0)

The Warriors are red hot with 4 wins in 5 games coming off a 4-1 win in Vernon. Goaltender Rorke Applebee has taken the reins in net for West K, aside from both games against Merritt he has given up two or less goals in 3 of 5 games. The Warriors only loss during that 5 game span was a 4-3 home loss to Merritt, so West Kelowna has had the lead in all five of their last games. The team is clicking- going into the Christmas break and these two clubs are gonna face off a lot here in a short stretch of time.

Previous Meetings;

Back and forth all season long. A 6-4 win for West K followed by a 6-4 loss in two games played at the NVMA. In West Kelowna the Cents erased two third period deficits to steal points on the road. The first game was a 4-3 lead where Merritt erased a 3-2 deficit late to pull off a stunning 4-3 regulation win thanks to goals by Ty Wishart to tie things up and Michael Stenberg with the winner with 8 minutes left. The next game in West Kelowna the Warriors stormed out to a 3-0 lead then let Merritt claw all the way back to force overtime. 

The Warriors took a whopping 8 penalties last game, a big reason why the deadly Cents Power Play was able to tie things up. The Cents went 3 for 8 with the extra man.

West Kelowna is deadly on the road at 7-3-0-0 while Merritt has been a .500 team at home at 5-5-0-0. Can the Cents take down one of the best road teams in the BCHL?

Special Teams Comparison;

Cents –             18/75 (24%) (5th)                   PK 16/85 (81.18%) (3rd)

Warriors –      18/81 (77.78%) (16th)         PK 20/71 (71.8%) (12th)

The Centennials dominate the special teams matchup, it’s very shocking to see a team like West Kelowna struggling so badly on the powerplay.

Players to Watch;

Michael Felsing is on a 6 game point streak with 9 points in 6 games. He is now the 5th best player in the BCHL points wise and is only one point shy of the leading scorer in the BCHL Caden Cranston. Ty Wishart was mentioned in the BCHL stars of the week; he has been the third forward to become a point per game player since being added by Brian Passmore. Wishart has 4 assists in his last two games, has 7 points in 8 games and has been clutch as well. His only goal was a late game tying goal and his last assist helped Sam Grabner notch his first BCHL goal, an overtime winner.

Jaxson Murray is on a 4 game goal scoring streak and 7 game point streak. Murray has only gone pointless in one game against Vernon in his 11 games since returning to Merritt. His return has sparked the powerplay which is now 5th in the league. 

For West Kelowna, a balanced scoring attack. Jackson Kyrkostas is coming off a three point game and had a hat trick at the NVMA the first time these two teams played each other. Felix Caron always seems to play well against Merritt as well. If West K can come out flying like they did against Vernon and Merritt they will take some energy out of the teddy bear crowd here at the NVMA.

Keys to Victory:

Key number 1 – Special Teams mastery. This is the first game I can honestly say the Cents have a massive advantage on the powerplay and the penalty kill. This could be the biggest difference in today’s game with a Top 5 BCHL powerplay and penalty kill for Merritt while West Kelowna sits at the bottom of the league in both categories.

Key Number 2 -For pete’s sake play a full sixty minutes! Game after game the Centennials are all over the place. Up 2-0 then down 3-2 then winning 4-3. Down 3-0 then tied 3-3. Up 4-1 then tied 4-4 with an OT winner to end it. The Centennials have got to put together a complete 60 minute effort to take the next step as a team.

Key number 3 – Home cooking. 

It’s the teddy bear toss game! How could you not be fired up! Who’s gonna get that goal to get the Teddy Bears flying! Will red hot Rorke Applebee shut down the Centennials and spoil the party! Stay tuned Cents fans, it’s the teddy bear toss game on a Friday Night at the NVMA!!!