The Merritt Centennials (9-20-1-3) take on the Island division leading Nanaimo Clippers (22-10-1-2) this afternoon.
The Merritt Centennials are coming off another gutsy effort where they 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. 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.
The Clippers are on a bit of a slide of late as they are 1-4 in their last 5 and have lost 3 in a row. Last night they fell to the Victoria Grizzlies in a penalty filled contest 6-3, they fell to the Grizzlies mid-week 3-1, lost to the Eagles in a shootout 3-2, the last Nanaimo win came against another team that’s on the slide the Salmon Arm Silverbacks 2-1, and Coquitlam held their home ice with a 4-3 win over Nanaimo as well. The Cents will be facing Josh Kagan for the first and last time since the trade unless they meet in the playoffs, and Evan Benwell will face the team that brought him to the BCHL.
The Cents have been getting contributions from the line of Hunor Torzsok, Josh Van Unen and Rylan Van Unen, but it’s Christian Buono who leads the team with 23 points, Payton Matsui has 22, and Thomas Manty has 18 points.
The Clippers are led by former Cent Josh Kagan and Captain Ethan Scardina with 31 points up front. Josh Bourne has 27 points, and the team has 6 players who have tallied over 20.
The special teams battle sees the Cents looking to get back on the horse after going 3/5 in Powell River, they went 0/4 against the Capitals.
Powerplay: Penalty Kill:
Cents – 10.5% (17th) Cents – 72% (16th)
Clips – 19.3% (8th) Clips – 88.4% (2nd)
The goaltending duel sees Tanner Marshall coming off another great game, but it may be time to deploy Ryan Winter with the 3rd game in 3 days. Winter is 2-9-2 with a 3.96 GAA and a .906 SV% and 1 shutout. Tanner Marshall is 6-10-1 with a .885 SV% and a 4.46 GAA.
The Clippers boast two of the league’s best in Jordan Naylor and Zachary Bennett. Naylor is 15-3-1 with a .943 SV% and a 1.76 GAA. Bennett is 6-7 with a .936 SV% and a 2.19 GAA. Both goaltenders have 3 shutouts a piece.
Head Coach Derek Sweet Coulter says that he liked the teams battle through adversity against the Capitals and they’ll need that again.
“Our teams resilience throughout that game was commendable. These guys are playing for each other and we will be looking for another strong effort against the Clippers.”
Puck drop 2pm. Pre-Game 1:45 on Q101 and Hockey TV with Jared Thomas.
