Cents face KIJHL league champions in weekend action

The Merritt Centennials will try to put the Friday night blues behind them this weekend as the KIJHL franchise has a tough test coming up on Friday; a showdown with the defending league champions.

The Grand Forks Border Bruins (3-0-0 ) will visit the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (NVMA)  Friday night (Oct.3) in one of two games for the Centennials (5-3-2-0) this weekend.

“The champs (Grand Forks) will be a litmus test for our guys on Friday,” Cents head coach Wes McLeod said. “They are a very skilled and disciplined team and we will need to put our best effort forward against them.”

So far this season Friday night games for the Cents have been nothing short of lackluster. On Sept. 19, the Cents dropped their 2025-26 season opener 5-2 in Quesnel while last Friday (Sept 26) the Castlegar Rebels took advantage of special teams and down Merritt 6-2.

“We have to be more disciplined, especially against the Bruins, they have some weapons throughout the line-up and if they get a lead, they are pretty hard to defeat,” McLeod added.

On Saturday night, the Cents travel to 100 Mile House to face the Wranglers at the South Caribou Rec Centre looking for their second win of the season against the Wranglers. On Tuesday, the Cents struck for five first period goals and held on for a 8-5 victory during the Truth and Reconciliation game.

Notes: Cents announced the return of goaltender Matt Perron to the team. Perron was brilliant last season in a back-up role for the Centennials winning 15 of the 21 games he appeared in with a goals against average of 2.87 with one shutout.

“Having Matty (Perron) back is huge for our club. He has experience at the Junior A level now and he’s ready to take the next step to be a dominate number one goalie,” McLeod smile. “Couple that with he is also a leader in the locker room so he is certainly a great addition to the line-up this year.”

Meanwhile Merritt sniper Steven Foster is tied for the league lead in goals with six along with Princeton’s Bryton Morrow.

Friday and Saturday’s game can be heard on Q101 with Jared Thomas beginning each evening with the pre-game show at 6:45 each night.