POST GAME WEEKEND: The Merritt Centennials, (16-18-2-1), split their weekend games, earning a loss on Friday night vs the Vernon Vipers, (27-9-1-4) and a win last night against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, (14-22-3-0).
Friday night saw the Cents lose to the Vipers over in Vernon, with a final score of 2-0. The game started out really quiet as the goals for the Snakes didn’t come until the third period. At 3:50 of the third period it was Jimmy Lambert that got the puck past Jacob Berger to give the Vipers a 1-0 lead, and then at 19:36 of the third, Jagger Willamson got a empty net goal to secure the win for Vernon. Ty Taylor got his fifth shutout of the season.
Jake Berger faced 27 shots while Taylor saw 22 shots.
Last night’s game versus the Salmon Arm Silverbacks saw the Centennials get their first win of 2018 with a 4-2 final. The Cents changed up goaltenders as Austin Roden got the start and Kyle Dumba got the start for the Silverbacks.
The Centennials jumped up to a 2-0 lead before the first period ended, those goals hailing from Zach Zorn and Mathieu Gosselin; Zorn now has 15 goals on the season. Assists from Zorn’s goal came from Matthew Kopperud and Joey Berkopec, assists from Gosselin’s goal came from Chase Bell and Mike Van Unen.
At just 1:23 into the second, Mathieu Gosselin got his second of the game to make it 3-0 for the Cents, assists coming from Chase Bell once again, and Henry Cleghorn. The Silverbacks got on the scoreboard at 5:07 of the second as Justin Wilson got the puck past Roden to cut the Cents lead in half. At 13:04 of the second, Salmon Arm got another puck past Roden, that goal coming from Tanner Campbell.
With just a few minutes remaining in the game, Brendan Schneider secured the win for the Cents putting the puck past Dumba to make the game 4-2. Assists from Schneider’s goal came from Nick Wicks and Zach Court.
Roden saw 39 shots while Dumba faced 37. The Cents went two for five on the power play while the Silverbacks went zero for five.
The next game day action for the Cents goes Wednesday night as they travel over the Okanagan Connector to take on the Penticton Vees, (24-9-2-2) over in Penticton. The Vees are coming off of a 5-1 win over the Wenatchee Wild, (25-12-2-1), last night.
Q101 has the pregame at 6:45 with Jared Thomas, puck drop is set for 7:00. Follow the Centennials on Twitter for live game day updates as well; @BCHLCentennials
