The Merritt Centennials were in the drivers seat heading to the final seconds of the game when the Capitals tied it, and then won it in the shootout 3-2.
The first period saw the Cents survive the early onslaught by the Cowichan Valley Capitals, and it set the stage for Tanner Marshall in the game as he saw a lot of rubber early. The Cents survived an early test with the Capitals on the powerplay and were able to hang on until even strength. Matthew Crasa opened the scoring at the 12:40 mark after it bounced through the slot on his stick to the side of the net. A weird exchange occurred at the end of the first period that saw Olson Werenka leave the game. Captain’s Rylan Van Unen and Cote exchanged jabs in the offensive zone, when Cote cross checked Van Unen to the head, and a penalty was on the way. Werenka took exception once play was dead and checked Cote from behind and it caused a scrum. After the scrum, Werenka got a five minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind, Cote got off scott free, and a roughing call went to another member of the Capitals. Shots after 1 were 17-10 in favour of Cowichan.
With the major penalty to Werenka the Capitals looked for more on the powerplay, but Tanner Marshall and the Cents were able to kill off the penalty. Hunor Torzsok was able to equalize the game from his office in front of the net to make it 1-1 from Josh and Rylan Van Unen. The Capitals had enough shots in the 2nd to last them for a game as they threw 26 on Tanner Marshall. Shots after 2 were 43 – 22 for the Caps.
Torzsok got the Cents their first lead of the hockey game within the first minute of the third where else but in the goal mouth to make it 2-1. Once again Josh and Rylan set up the marker. The Cents played a solid final frame, but ran into some trouble just over halfway through to take another defender out of the game. After a goal mouth scramble, Marshall took the puck in the glove, Broadhurst took a whack at it, Zakall defended his goalie, Broadhurst jumped him, and some how after taking Zakall to the ice in a headlock, Zakall was given 2 and a 10 and would leave the game. That would be a minor turning point as the Cents would go down to 4 D, and then late in the frame Sidaway would crunch Galloway into the boards with a check from behind major to take the young D man out of the game. With 3 D remaining in the contest, the Cents were on the powerplay with a 5 minute major, but the Capitals kept coming in waves. With the net empty, and after Payton Matsui missed the empty net, the Capitals got a draw in the offensive zone, won it, and were able to get the equalizer with 13 seconds left.
The Caps killed off the remainder of the major penalty to get out of danger and the game would go all the way to the shootout, and it still isn’t the Cents cup of tea. They’d allow the one shooter, and couldn’t find the back of the net to fall in the shootout, but they already have 3 of a possible 6 points on the island road swing.
Head Coach Derek Sweet Coulter applauded the Cents battle throughout the game especially late.
“We saw a ton of fight from this team especially on defense. The team was down to 5 d men, then 4, then 3, but we still hung in there with one of the best teams in the league until overtime.”
The Cents will look to add to their point total on Sunday against the Clippers at 2pm.
