GAME DAY: Merritt Centennials (9-11-3-1) at Penticton Vees (18-1-2-2)

Merritt Centennials – (9-11-3-1)

The streak of doom continued against Penticton in a 3-2 loss but the Cents are going to have to take another moral victory out of the result. They were right there with Penticton the entire game, which was a 2-1 game until a couple of goals late. Unfortunately a solid effort in the first and second period was masked by yet another third period where the Cents fell apart. 

In the only game in Penticton however, the Vees were dominated on the shot clock in periods two and three and will have to bring that same kind of effort tonight. After the game Fred Harbinson said his Vees were outworked.

Penticton Vees – (18-1-2-2)

52 wins in a row at home. 

A BCHL record that looks to continue tonight. The longest record in pro sports is 54 set by the 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. It’s a David vs Goliath type of matchup, the Centennials will face their toughest test of the season once again tonight. 

Previous Meetings;

A 6-0, 6-4, 5-2 and 3-2 win for the Vees in the season series. 

The Cents have lost 29 games in a row against Penticton with their last win being about five years ago, a 4-2 home loss to the hands of Merritt. 

Special Teams Comparison;

Cents –      19/82  (23.2%)    (5th)            PK 19/90  (80%)   (6th)

Vees –      27/64   (34.6%)   (1st)           PK 16/64 (75 %)   (15th)

Players to Watch;

CT Larochelle is back to his goal scoring ways after a bit of a dry spell. He had the teddy bear toss goal and now he has goals in back-to-back games. Let’s see if that get’s CT going, a player that seems to thrive off of confidence. 

Jaxson Murray’s goal scoring streak came to an end but he had a beauty of a chip pass to help out CT on the game tying goal last game and 2 assists last game. 12 points in 13 games and 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points in 8 games. He is making the Spinale deficit not hurt as much. 

Will Ingemann was solid in his last game at the NVMA. He stopped 28 of 30 shots, the most shots the Vees have given up is 31 in a game. Wouldn’t be surprised if the got the nod again against the Cents as he has been real tough to score on in his games against Merritt, he had a shutout earlier in the season.  

Keys to Victory:

 Key number 1 – Discipline. You’re amongst the leaders in the BCHL for penalties taken and this is the top power play in the league. This is really simple. Don’t hand the game over with undisciplined plays. Especially in the offensive zone. The team has to control their defensive side of the game without going too far. Last time they visited Penticton they only gave up one penalty.

Key Number 2 – Play a full sixty minutes. The Cents are getting an identity as a team that either comes out hot and fizzles late or comes out slow and pushes back late. It would be nice to see them consistent throughout an entire game, there hasn’t been a lot of games where you could say the team was good from start to finish.

Key number 3 – Road Cooking. The Cents now have points in 6 of 9 road games since dropping their first two away games for a record of 4-3-2 during that stretch. They could be 6-3-0 or 5-3-1 on the road if a bounce or two went their way. 

Tonight they will have to keep the confidence in the way they played last time in Penticton and see if the underdog story can finish the way they’d like it to. Could tonight be the night they slay the dragon?

Cents Bench | Madeline Baker Photography