The Merritt Centennials (10-31-1-3) look for revenge against the Penticton Vees (36-11-1-1) tonight.
The Centennials come into the contest looking to forget the last time they were in the confines of the SOEC. The Cents had a decent first period. Despite giving up a highlight reel goal to Danny Weight, they were able to equalize the score with a breakaway goal from Evan Benwell to make it 1-1 after 1, but in the second the Vees took over. The Vees scored 2 early goals in the 2nd period from David Silye and Jay O’Brien and despite Head Coach Sweet-Coulter calling a time out the Cents couldn’t turn the tide and ended up washed out to sea. The Vees added more offense from Jackson Niedermayer, another from O’Brien, a goal by Tristan Amonte, and Jack Barnes to set themselves up in cruise control up 7-1 after 2. The Cents and local emergency back up Bryce Garcia were able to keep the Vees off the scoresheet until the final minute where they added two more quick ones including an own goal to make it a 9-1 final. The Cents played much better the following night in Trail, but despite two powerplay goals from Chase Nameth, and another from Evan Benwell weren’t able to comeback to tie the game against the Smoke Eaters and fell 4-3 in regulation.
The Vees have been in cruise control through the month of January and are 9-1 over that span. Their only set back came against the Trail Smoke Eaters in Trail, a 4-3 loss, but since then have rattled off 5 in a row including the aforementioned result against the Cents. Since facing Merritt, the Vees have beaten the Salmon Arm Silverbacks by a tight score of 2-1, and used another strong 2nd period on Wednesday to outlast the West Kelowna Warriors 5-2. Team Defense continues to be just as much a strength for the Vees as their offense as they’ve only allowed more than 2 goals twice in the month of January, and after their game against West K on Wednesday are primed for a long home stand to finish off the season.
This will be the finale of the season series between the two clubs, and Merritt is looking to pick up its first win of the year after coming in 0-5 versus Penticton. They will be boosted by the return of Ryan Winter into the fold, who will see his first start of 2020 after being sidelined with an elbow injury. Josh Van Unen makes his way back into the fold after being held out with injury since before Christmas, and it’s just in time for Captain and brother Rylan Van Unen’s 200th BCHL regular season game. What makes the elder Van Unen’s milestone a little more special is that all 200 games have been played in a Merritt Centennials uniform. The Cents will be looking to play for their Captain in what may be his final visit to the SOEC tonight.
The Cents will look for more contributions from their top end talent. Christian Buono finally found the scoreboard and is at 31 points, Payton Matsui has 28, and Daniel Tkac, after getting 3 breakaway opportunities the last time these two teams met, will be looking to add to his 25 points.
The Vees are led by their Captain David Silye with 53 points, Jay O’Brien has 52, Lukas Sillinger has 49, and Danny Weight has 47.
The special teams battle sees the Cents looking to continue where they left off in Trail, scoring twice with the extra man.
Powerplay: Penalty Kill:
Cents – 10.7% (17th) Cents – 73.5% (17th)
Vees – 20.3% (6th) Vees – 83.8% (6th)
As mentioned, Ryan Winter is making his return to the crease and is 3-13-1 with a .903 SV%, a 3.94 GAA, and 1 shutout. It remains to be seen whether Tanner Marshall will be available or if the team will turn to another emergency back up.
Yaniv Perets is the number one for Penticton at 21-7-1 with a .918 SV%, a 2.16 GAA, and 5 shutouts. Carl Stankowski has faced the Cents a couple times this season and is 10-3 with a .914 SV% and a 2.03 GAA.
Assistant Coach Paul Barnes says the team is doing a lot of things right, they just need to stick with it.
“We just need to be better at managing momentum swings in the game. We can’t get too high, and we can’t get too low. Just keep working.”
The Cents will look to end up on the right side of the game tonight.
Puck drop 7pm. Pre-game 6:45 on Q101 and HockeyTV with Jared Thomas.
