Penticton, BC – November 9, 2012
The Merritt Centennials met the Penticton Vees for the first time since last spring's Interior Conference Final and came away with a 3-2 win in BCHL action Friday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
Penticton (13-4-0-2) opened the scoring at 9:34 of the first period and it looked like the score would be 1-0 heading to the second, but Brendan Lamont equalized for Merritt (11-5-1-1) with 14 seconds left in the opening frame. The Cents outshot the Vees 13-5 through 20 minutes.
The Centennials took a 3-1 lead in the middle stanza on goals by Sebastien Pare at 16:41 and Brandon Bruce at 18:20. Merritt was dominant on the shot clock once again, holding an 11-4 advantage in the second period and 24-9 after 40 minutes.
The Vees notched the lone goal of the third period as Derek Hughes scored at 15:10 to bring Penticton within one but that was as close as it would get. The Cents were outshot 10-7 in the final frame, but still wound up outshooting the Vees 31-19 overall.
Tyler Steel made 17 saves to get the win in goal for Merritt while Chad Katunar kicked out 21 shots for Penticton before being replaced by Nic Renyard at the end of the second period. Renyard stopped all seven Centennials shots he faced in relief.
Silvan Harper, Tyler Martin and Richard Sabourin each had assists in the victory. For Sabourin, it extends his point streak to five games.
The Cents were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Vees went 0-for-4 on their man advantages.
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 Saturday, November 10 as they continue their 40th season of junior 'A' hockey with their fourth meeting of the season against the Trail Smoke Eaters. Game time is 7:30 pm at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
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.
