Cents, Krakora pick up back to back shutouts in KIJHL weekend action

The Merritt Centennials are on a roll.

The Cents are now on a three game winning streak and winners of four of the last five KIJHL contests after blanking the Golden Rockets 8-0 on Friday night, then travelling to Chase to shutout the Heat 2-0 on Saturday.

Merritt now 5-5-1 sit in fourth place in the Bill Ohlhausen Division just one point back of Revelstoke (9-5-2-0-2-12 points) and two points behind second place Sicamous (10-5-2-3-13 points).

On Friday night, the Centennials line of Maxim Radmanovich ( 3 assists), Brayden Thurlow ( 2 goals, 1 assist) and Dylan Ruff ( 1 goal, 3 assists)  combined for ten scoring points to lead the attack against the Golden Rockets.

Also scoring for the Cents, Troy Horn (2 goals), Steven Foster (1 goal, 2 assists), Wyatt Ball (1 goal, 1 assist) and newcomer Dylan Krutchen ( 1 goal, 1 assist).

Merritt’s Andrew Krakora turned aside 24 shots for his first KIJHL shutout of the season in front of 573 fans at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.

On Saturday night the Cents got goals from Marshall Wagner (1) and defenseman Alex Cordero on route to a 2-0 win over the Chase Heat. Krakora stopped all 25 shots directed at him for his third straight victory.

The Cents are back in action on Tuesday night against the Kelowna Chiefs at the NVMA. Merritt defeated the Chiefs 2-1 in a shootout on Oct. 6th at the Rutland Arena.

Game time Tuesday night is 7 p.m.