RECAP: Cents Can’t Break The Hex Vs PG

The Merritt Centennials are still waiting to X the hex, as they played their strongest game against the Spruce Kings but left a little on the table in a 4-3 loss on Monday night.

The first period saw the teams trade chances early on, but the excitement was saved for the final minute and the final second. Kolton Cousins scored with 23 seconds remaining to take the wind out of the Cents sailed and it looked like they were heading to the intermission empty handed. Wyatt Marlow changed that when he did a lap around the zone, looked at the clock winding down, and fired a shot on through a crowd of bodies that found the back of the net with 0.1 seconds remaining to tie the game. Shots after 1 were 11-7 PG.

After the late momentum boost in the first, the Cents couldn’t translate it into success in the 2nd. Prince George came out hungry, but the Centennials thought they had one against the grain as Josh Olson had a shot deflect up and off the blocker of Fairlie, off his back and in. The puck appeared to cross the line, but no official on the ice called a goal. PG was then able to draw a penalty early and Nick Rheaume was able to get a deflection past Dias to make it 2-1. Then the most lethal goal scorer in the pod went to work as Andrew Seaman scored his 7th and 8th goals back to back to make it a 4-1 game. The Cents were able to get a few chances, but nothing that was able to fool Fairlie. Shows after 2 were 28 – 13 Spruce Kings.

With their backs against the wall, the Cents came to play in the third. After not finding much success offensively, the coaches threw the lines in a blender and the 9 (McLean), 10 (Ward), 11 (Pecchia) line was able to get to work. On a rush into the zone Pecchia had a chance to the side of the net, picked up his own rebound and was able to cash in through the five hole to make it 4-2. The remixed Preston line featuring Josh Olson brought the Cents within one when Preston set the platter for an Olson wrist shot top corner. However, it was 3 missed opportunities on the powerplay in the third period that came back to bite the Centennials as they couldn’t muster the equalizer. Final shots were 37-26 PG.

After the game Head Coach Derek Sweet-Coulter said the team has a lot of good and a lot of bad to review on tape for the next few days.

“We have some stuff we need to improve on and can show the kids where they’ve gone wrong from this game, but we also have a lot of tape we can show them on how they were playing right and what was working from late in the game.”

The Cents will now have a few days off before facing the Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday.