Cents Game Day – Merritt vs Penticton – Dec 7/21

Date – Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Game Time – Puck drop 7:00 pm

Location – Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, Merritt BC

Broadcast –Q101 & BCHLTV

Penticton Vees – 17-2-0-0

Merritt Centennials – 1-14-1-0

It was a mixed bag weekend for the Merritt Centennials as the team finally earned win number 1, but also suffered a rough defeat at the hands of Trail.

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 over Wenatchee. Ward finished with four points, including a hat-trick and is classic Ward form, also drew a pair of penalties in the contest.

On Friday, regulation would solve nothing and to overtime the game went.

In the extra frame, Ward skated down the right wing side on a 2-on-1 chance, kept and beat Shea for the winner, and his hat-trick goal.

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

Saturday was sadly a completely different story with Head Coach Dave Chyzowski saying his team diapered in the second period, which saw Trail score six times.

The Cents would wake up in the third frame and win the period 2-1. Merritt getting a pair of quick goals around the mid-way mark of the period from Jacksenn Hungle and Jerzy Orchard.

The Penticton Vees come into town with the best record in the BCHL at 17-2. The Vees are also riding a nine game win streak which includes an 8-0 win over Merritt. Last weekend Penticton won 7-1 over Cranbrook and also beat Wenatchee 5-3.

Previous meetings;

The Cents and Vees have met just once so far this season with Penticton winning easily 8-0. In fairness to Merritt, it was their first game since being displaced by the Merritt floods after two weeks of not being able to return home.

In the contest, Casey McDonald and Ethan Mann both scored a pair and Kaeden Lane pitched the 22 save shutout.

Blue Paint Battle;

Both Merritt goalies saw action on Saturday night as Keegan Maddocks was pulled after allowing eight goals 28 shots. John Hicks would replace Maddocks and stop 9/10 in relief.

Maddocks will be leaving the Cents this week to join the Kamloops Blazers is 1-7-1 with an .840 SV% and a 6.73 GAA. Hicks is 0-3, with a .862 SV%, and a 5.00 GAA.

Kaeden Lane is 13-1 for Penticton this year with a .913 SV% and a 2.05 GAA. His backup is Colin Purcell at 4-1 with .902 SV% and a 2.24 GAA.

Special Teams Comparison;

Vees – PP 28.4% (4/18) PK 84.7% (2/18)

Cents – PP 11.4% (18/18) PK 69.4% (17/18)