The Merritt Centennials slowly found their legs after a long bus ride North to Prince George, and capitalized on a powerplay in overtime to capture their first win of the exhibition season.
The first period started off slow for the Cents and they were heavily out shot. If not for some fine work from Vincent Duplessis the scoreline could’ve been far worse, although the Spruce Kings did manage to get one past him in the first.
The middle frame saw the Cents slowly start to come alive and it was Christian Sabin who found the back of the net after collecting a sharp angle rebound off a Matt Kopperud shot to tie things up. Despite a turnstile of players that headed to the box on both sides, the scoreline stayed at one a piece through 2.
In the third, the Spruce Kings shot out to an early lead, but the Cents were able to respond quickly. Nic Granowicz showed off some speed to the outside and was able to beat the Spruce Kings goaltender down low to restore the tie at 2. Momentum started to swing in the Cents favour as the 3rd period rolled on, and the Cents were gifted a powerplay late in the frame which carried over into extra time.
In overtime the Cents took advantage of the extra man by cycling the puck perfectly around the horn before a cross seam pass found Matt Kopperud perfectly on the tape and he was able to one-time it past a sprawling Prince George netminder for the win.
It brings the Centennials pre-season record to 1-2, and sets up the Centennials final exhibition game at the NVMA, a 7pm puckdrop against the Spruce Kings on Friday.
