The Merritt Centennials (0-2) still search for their first win of the season and they hope it can come at the expense of the visiting Victoria Grizzlies (0-2).
Last night the Cents were humbled by a powerful Penticton Vees squad that scored 4 goals in the 2nd period and 6 unanswered before the team finally came to life in the 3rd. For the first time in the Barry Wolff era, the Cents didn’t open the scoring as Alex DiPaolo got the game going inside the NVMA. Rylan Van Unen answered with his first of the season on the powerplay, but from then on it was a steady taste of Vees as they’d score 2 more before the period was out to make it 3-1 after 1. The second period saw the Vees continue to fill the cage behind Ryan Winter as him and the Cents were shelled for 4 more goals to make it 7-1 after 2. Dylan Kosik relieved Winter for the third period and stopped all 5 shots he faced while the Cents were finally able to get some traction offensively. The push back resulted in their first two even strength goals of the season from Brett Roloson midway through the frame and Troy Quinn in the final minute to make it a 7-3 final.
The Grizzlies have to start the season as road warriors as their first 7 games will be away from their Q centre. They come into the contest still searching for their first win and only scoring 3 goals for while allowing 14 against. They opened the season with a 8-2 loss to the Cowichan Valley Capitals and followed that up with a 6-1 loss to the Prince George Spruce Kings last night. Much like in the Cents contest the Grizzlies allowed one period to get away from them as Prince George scored 4 unanswered to start the first. Over the rest of the game, judging by the shots it looked a little more even, but the Grizzlies couldn’t solve Jett Alexander who made 27 saves on 28 shots. They’ll come into this game just as hungry as the Centennials for a win.
Victoria have had their own goal scoring woes to start the season, and are a much different club than the high powered offensive machine of last year that featured the likes of first round draft pick Alex Newhook, the Campbell brothers, Riley Hughes, Carter Berger and more. All told the Grizzlies will be without their top 7 scorers from last year, much like the new look Cents, and only have 6 players returning to BCHL action from last year. Marty Westhaver, their Captain, will have to play a big role as well as Eddie Yan, Darwin Lakoduk, and Henri Schreifels. Another similarity between the two teams is between the pipes where the Grizzlies have had to reset completely. They’ve also brought in a 20 year old Liam Souliere and an 18 year old Joe Howe.
The special teams battle sees the teams split the difference in the early season. The Cents hold a slight edge on the powerplay, while the Grizzlies have been more steady on the penalty kill.
Powerplay: Penalty Kill:
Cents – 25% (8th) Cents – 69.2% (14th)
Grizz – 18.2% (10th) Grizz – 85.7% (8th)
It’s too early to tell who’s going to grab the reins offensively for either team, but the Cents are led by Talon Zakall with 2 assists. While Brett Roloson, Rylan Van Unen, Vincent Guy and Troy Quinn have all provided some goals.
The Grizzlies are led by Edward Yan with a goal and an assist, Brady Macdonald has a pair of helpers, and Darwin Lakoduk has added a goal.
Merritt will have an interesting decision to make between the pipes tonight as Ryan Winter was shelled for 7 goals on 34 shots in 2 periods, and we saw our first glimpse of Dylan Kosik. Do the Cents turn back to Winter who is now 0-2 with a .873 SV% and a 5.40 GAA, or do they give Kosik his first full game after he stopped all 5 shots he faced in the 3rd period last night.
Joe Howe is the only goalie that’s seen action for the Grizzlies so far this season and is 0-2 with a .808 SV% and a 7.00 GAA.
Assistant Coach Derek Sweet Coulter says the Cents need more jump, and they need it earlier in the game for the W.
“I felt we showed the kind of pride we had in the 3rd period last night, but we need to show that fight and that jump a little earlier on in the game and carry it through to come out on top.”
The Cents will look to get the jump on the Grizzlies tonight.
Puck drop 7pm from the NVMA. Pre-Game 6:45 on Q101 and HockeyTV with Jared Thomas and Michael Reeve.
