KIJHL Playoffs Open tonight In Revelstoke for Merritt Centennials

The Merritt Centennials begin their quest to capture the KIJHL’s top prize, the Teck Cup, begins tonight in Revelstoke.

The Centennials open their best-of-seven- series with the Grizzlies tonight at the Forum beginning at 7:00 p.m., in a rematch of last year’s first round series which the Grizzlies win four-games to one.

Merritt’s head coach and assistant manager Wes McLeod, said there were a lot of lessons from last year’s defeat by Revelstoke.

“I think the biggest takeaway from the playoffs with Revy (Revelstoke) was that we needed to get bigger especially upfront,” he noted. “I think they took advantage of our smaller forwards last year so we think we have rectified that this season.”

The Cents did indeed get bigger this season.

Gone from last years lineup are 5’9″ forwards Tyler Origitano and Sam Giangualano, 5’10” Taye Shukin and, 5’11” Steven Foster. The  Cents added 6’2″ Reed Balcourt and Ryder McAslan, 6’3″ Kaden Wilkins, 6’4″ Callum MacLean and d-man Brando Purinton and 6’6″ Marcus Hughes to give them the necessary size needed for a long physical series with the Grizzlies.

This year’s match-up is in a battle of the first (Revelstoke) and four (Merritt) seeds in the Bill Ohlhausen Division of the KIJHL. Last year, Revelstoke was the number two seed while Merritt opened its inaugural KIJHL campaign finishing third in the division.

McLeod said going into the season the focus was playing to their identity, and making the playoffs.

“We wanted to create a culture that when teams visit our barn (the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena), they knew they were in for a battle and I think we have succeeded this year,” McLeod added.

The Cents home record improved this year to 16-6 in 22 games played at the NVMA. Last season, Merritt boasted a 13-6-2-1 record at home.

The Cents will be looking for offense from the leading rookie scorer in the league, Noah Lawless who netted 30 goals and 34 assists for 64 points. Lawless, along with linemates Troy Horn (17-38-55) and Callum MacLean (20-26-46 points) combined for 165  total points this season, one of the league’s best top lines.

Game two goes tomorrow in Revelstoke with games three and four going Tuesday (March 10) and Wednesday (March 11) at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.

All games are at 7 p.m. and can be heard on Q101 with Super Save Gas Playoff hockey beginning at 6:45 each evening.