Merritt, BC – November 2, 2012
The Merritt Centennials dropped their second straight game as they fell 3-2 to the Surrey Eagles in BCHL action on Friday night at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
Surrey (10-6-0-1) opened the scoring at 10:45 of the first period on a goal by Michael Stenerson. Dylan Chanter equalized for Merritt (10-5-1-1) just under three minutes later on a power play. Shots in the opening frame were 13-5 in favour of the Centennials.
The Eagles notched the lone goal of the middle stanza as Drew Best scored at 14:19 to give Surrey a 2-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play. The Cents outshot the Eagles 14-10 in the second period.
Derek Huisman tied the game for Merritt at 12:46 of the third, but Nicolas Pierog tallied the winner for Surrey at 15:26 with his first career BCHL goal. The Centennials once again had the advantage on the shot clock in the final period 14-11 and 41-26 overall.
Richard Sabourin, Regan Soquila and Sean Maktaak each had assists for the Cents in the loss.
Tyler Steel made 23 saves in goal for Merritt while Glenn Ferguson kicked out 39 Centennials shots to earn first star honours.
Merritt went 1-for-1 on the power play and Surrey didn't have any man advantage opportunities as the game saw just a single penalty called.
For further information, please contact Cents Head Coach and GM Luke Pierce at 250-378-3607 or email [email protected]
The Cents next game is Friday, November 9 as they continue their 40th season of junior 'A' hockey with their first match-up of the season against the first place and defending RBC Cup champion Penticton Vees. Game time from the South Okanagan Events Centre is 7 pm. The two teams haven't met since Game Five of the 2012 BCHL Interior Conference final back on Monday, April 2.
Follow the Cents on Twitter at @BCHLCentennials and on Facebook.com/MerrittCentennials
Season tickets are still available for the 2012-13 season. For more information on how to get yours, call the Cents Marketing office at 250-378-3604.
The Merritt Centennials, proudly celebrating 40 seasons as the BCHL's longest continuously run franchise, are a non-profit, community owned Junior 'A' Hockey Club run by a dedicated team of investors, directors, and volunteers.
