With the 19th Annual Icebreaker set for Saturday night, the on ice festivities begin on Friday for the Merritt Centennials, as they host the surging Salmon Arm Silverbacks at 7:30 with the Centennials also welcoming their families to the Nicola Valley.
Salmon Arm has a record of 7-5-0-1 coming in to the game, but many of those losses came in the opening weeks as they have now won 5 of their previous 6 games. Like Salmon Arm, Merritt has been cranking up the heat with wins in 5 of their last 7, and the Cents sit at 8-7-0-0 on the season.
Alex Gillies has been the leader to this point on the season for the purple 'n silver, scoring goals in his past 5 games, totalling 14 in just 13 games this season. He's had help though, as teammate Landon Smith is tied in points with Gillies. Back for one final season, Adam Clark has been solid between the pipes but still has more to offer.
Diego Cuglietta has been the Centennials best player as of late, scoring 10 points in the month of October(6 games). The Cents top line, although not on the stat sheet every night recently, has really stepped their games up, with guys like Sebastien Pare and Scott Patterson beginning to play in different areas of the ice. Devin Kero has begun to control the ship, with a 92.5 save percentage through 9 starts, along with a 2.20 goals against average. Russell Sanderson is back in action, so we could see him at some point this weekend.
View the full game preview on Dustin Scafe's blog: www.dustinscafe.blogspot.ca
