Cents Game Day – Merritt vs Trail – Dec 4/21

Date – Saturday, December 4, 2021

Game Time – Puck drop 7:00 pm

Location – Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, Merritt BC

Broadcast –Q101 & BCHLTV

Trail Smoke Eaters – 10-7-1-0

Merritt Centennials – 1-13-1-0

It was the Ben Ward show on Friday night at the NVMA as new longest tenured Merritt Centennial led his team to win number 1 of the season.

In the first period, Ward broke down the right-wing wall, beating two Wenatchee players before firing a backhander off the pads of Tyler Shea, working as a perfect pass to Levi Carter who scored his first in the BCHL.

That would be the only marker of the first period. Keegan Maddocks stopped all 11 shots he faced in the first.

Wenatchee came out strong in the middle stanza, with Ean Somaza and Cade Stibbe scoring to take a 2-1 lead.

Just 26 seconds later, Ward would score his first of the night to level the score once again at 2-2.

In the third, Ward would score his second of the night to restore the one goal lead just over one minute in.

Midway through the period Cade Littler scored on the powerplay to make the game 3-3.

Regulation would solve nothing and to overtime the game went.

In the extra frame, none other than Ben Ward skated down the right wing side on a 2-on-1 chance, kept and beat Shea for the winner,

Maddocks would stop 50 of 53 in the contest to collect his first BCHL win.

The Smoke Eaters come to town following a 5-3 loss in Vernon last night. The Smokies are 2-3 in the last five games with both wins coming over the Cranrook Bucks.

Previous meetings;

The Cents and Smokies met back in mid-November in Trail, where the Cents played one of their best games of the year, losing 2-1. Jerzy Orchard had the lone marker for Merritt in the contest, Maddocks made 41 stops in the losing effort.

Blue Paint Battle;

Last night Keegan Maddocks stood tall for Merritt making 50 saves en route to his first career BCHL win. Maddocks is now 1-7-1 with a .851 SV% and a 6.27 GAA.

John Hicks has been waiting in the wings with an 0-3 record, .858 SV% and a 5.21 GAA.

Evan Fradette played last night for Trail in the 5-3 loss. Fradette has been the workhorse for the Smokies appearing in 16 games, posting a 10-5-1 record, with a .908 SV% and a 3.47 GAA.

The backup is Bailey Monteith, 0-2, .848 SV% and a 4.69 GAA.

Special Teams Comparison;

Smoke Eaters – PP 22.7% (8/18) PK 78.6% (6/18)

Cents – PP 11.0% (18/18) PK 70.4% (16/18)