Cents drop 4-1 decision to Vernon at the NVMA

MERRITT — Well, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. The Centennials outshot the Vipers 40-25 but couldn’t solve Vernon goaltender Ethan David.

The first period was all Centennials outshooting the Vipers 15-12. Beau Lane stopped all 12 shots he faced in the first as both teams would head to the 1st intermission tied at 0-0.

The second period saw the first goal of the game as Luke Pakulak scored his first of three 2:44 on the PP. Overall the Cents would take six penalties on the night while the Vipers had two. Merritt took a 28-17 shot advantage into the 2nd intermission down 1-0 but a late penalty by the Cents would give the Vipers a five minute powerplay to work with at the start of the third.

Merritt would get their only goal of the game as Michael Stenberg would score his 2nd in two games just 25 seconds into the third period short-handed. The 1-1 tie wouldn’t last long as Hank Cleaves sniped one past Beau Lane’s glove at the 4:00 mark to give the Vipers the lead right back. 1:04 seconds later Luke Pakulak would score his second of the game to extend the lead to 3-1.

Pakulak would ice the game on an empty net goal to finish off his hat trick. It’s the third time the Cents have let an opposing player score a hat trick on them just 14 games into the season.

Michael Stenberg took third star honors while Zach Losier was the Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game.