Preview – The Merritt Centennials (24-26-5-2) are set to take on the Langley Rivermen (24-19-10-3) tonight for a season finale over in Langley. The last time that these two teams met was back on February 14th with the Centennials topping the Rivermen 4-1 in front of 353 people at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
Austin Roden got the start for the Centennials while Chad Cromar originally got the start for the Rivermen but at exactly the halfway point in the game went down with a lower body injury so Braedon Flemming came in for him.
The Centennials opened up the scoring at the 16:25 mark with Tyrell Buckley scoring on the power play, Nicholas Wicks and Matthew Kopperud earning the assists. That was it for scoring in the first.
In the middle frame the Centennials jumped up to a 2-0 lead at the 6:32 mark, that goal coming from Henry Cleghorn after being set up by Brad Cocca and Kopperud. Not even a minute later the Centennials jumped up to a 3-0 lead as Christian Sabin was set up from Brendan Schneider to get the puck past Cromar. Four minutes after Flemming came into net for Cromar it was Zach Court going top shelf to put the Centennials up 4-0. Court’s goal being set up from Brendan Schneider and Michael Van Unen.
The Rivermen spoiled Austin Roden’s shutout at the 6:36 mark of the third after Jayden Lee got the puck glove side on Roden.
The Centennials went one for four on the power play while the Rivermen went zero for four.
With this game being the last game of the regular season for the Centennials, the next game day action will be on March 1st as Merritt is set to take on the Wenatchee Wild (37-15-4-1) in Wenatchee, Washington for games one and two of the Fred Page Cup playoffs. Game two will be played on March 3rd.
