Centennials shut out at home

The Merritt Centennials only had on game over the weekend, welcoming in the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena on Friday (January 27).

The first period started slow for the Merritt Centennials, where as the Salmon Arm Silverbacks came to play. Just over six minutes into the opening frame, Raoul Boilard grabbed the puck from the top of the face-off dot and ripped it glove side to get the scoring started. There was only one penalty called in the period, it came late against Nathan Mackie for roughing. Final after the first, 1-0.

The second period started even faster for the Silverbacks. Former Centennials Tristan Allen threw the puck on net from the point and it got through traffic just 40 seconds into the second. With seven and a half minutes left in the middle frame, a broken play all over the offensive zone lead to another Silverbacks goal. Aleksey Chichkin got hit hard into the boards, causing some rough stuff and a furious coach, which led to a delayed penalty going towards the Centennials. While rough stuff was taking place on one side of the zone, Lynden Hanvold was on the other side with the puck and found the back of the net. Even though the Silverbacks extended the lead to three, the Cents were still handed a roughing penalty, sending Salmon Arm to the powerplay. One minute into the man advantage, Ryan Gillsepie scored his seventh goal of the season, widening the lead even more. With time ticking down fast, Owen Beckner come down the ice two-on-one. He sauced the puck over puck over to Hayden Stavroff who finished off the play with four seconds left in the period. Final after the second, 5-0.

The third period saw a goalie change for the Centennials and only two periods. Kyle Isenberg got two minutes for a cross-checking and with 14 seconds left, Diego Johnson was shown the gate for a misconduct off the face-off. Final score, 5-0.

Johnny Hicks took the lose in the game, stopping 27 of 32 through two periods. Connor Sullivan came on for the third and stopped 17 of 17.

The Centennials are back at home against the Wenatchee Wild on February 3.