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Game Day Preview: Cents @ Warriors – Dec. 20

The Merritt Centennials (9-22-1-3) kick off the weekend with a huge battle against the West Kelowna Warriors (6-22-5-2) tonight.

The Centennials are coming off an effort that wasn’t enough against the Powell River Kings. A game where they had a strong first period with a goal from Hunor Torzsok, but forgot about the final 40 minutes. The Centennials once again were forced to go with 13 forwards and 5 D because of a suspension and an injury, but should be back to full strength tonight with the return of Olson Werenka and Tyson Galloway. The bolstered back end should bump the tempo up a few notches, as the Centennials got outplayed in a 6-1 defeat on Wednesday night.

The Warriors come into the contest picking up points in their last 2 contests, but are 1-3-1 in their last 5. The Warriors got a gutsy 4-3 come from behind overtime win against the Chilliwack Chiefs on Tuesday night and in the game previous came back to tie, but fell in overtime to the Wenatchee Wild. Before that they hadn’t picked up a point in 5 tries with losses in December to the Trail Smoke Eaters 4-3, and a pair to the Penticton Vees 3-2 and 5-1. The Warriors were very active before the December 1st deadline and are a team transformed since the last time these clubs squared off.

The season series currently sits 2-0 in favour of the Centennials with a 4-2 win at home back in the Barry Wolff era, and a 5-2 win to kick off the Derek Sweet-Coulter era at Royal LePage Place. The Cents will be missing the man who’s had the most success against the Warriors with 4 points Daniel Tkac as he has made the preliminary roster for Team Slovakia at the World Juniors. Behind him rookie Thomas Manty has 3 points, while Payton Matsui, Joey Berkopec, and Josh Van Unen have each cashed in 2 in the season series.

The Centennials are having trouble finding scoring in the last 2 games and have been outscored 13-1. Christian Buono leads the offense with 24 points, Payton Matsui has 22, and Thomas Manty has 18.

The Warriors are led by a pair of rookies and a veteran up front as Johnny Evans, Tyler Cristall, and Luke Cullen are all tied with 21 points a pop.

The goaltending duel sees the Cents goalies both coming off of games they’d like to have back. Tanner Marshall is 6-10-1 with a .882 SV% and a 4.55 GAA. Ryan Winter is 2-10-2 with a .900 SV% a 4.15 GAA and 1 shutout.

In the crease for the Warriors they have Brock Baier and Johnny Derrick. Derrick is 3-10-1 with a .906 SV%, a 3.33 GAA and 1 shutout. Baier is 3-11-4 with a .887 SV% and a 4.16 GAA.

Head Coach Derek Sweet Coulter says the team needs to play with more heart than they have in the last couple games if they want to be successful.

“This is a team that has to work hard every shift if they want to be on the right side of games. We haven’t seen that for the last two, and we haven’t gotten the result.”

The Cents will look to find some success against the Warriors tonight.

Puck drop 7pm. Pre-Game 6:45 on Q101 and HockeyTV with Jared Thomas and Michael Reeve.