Date – Friday, February 11, 2022
Game Time – Puck drop 7:00 pm
Location – Royal LePage Place, West Kelowna B.C.
Broadcast – Q101 & BCHLTV
West Kelowna Warriors – 24-13-1-0
Merritt Centennials – 2-33-1-1
The Merritt Centennials and West Kelowna Warriors are completing a home and home series tonight in West Kelowna. The Warriors claimed victory on Tuesday night in Merritt by a 7-1 final.
The Merritt Centennials began the front half of a home and home series with the West Kelowna Warriors on Tuesday night at the NVMA. Merritt was looking to beat West Kelowna for the first time this season after dropping the first four meetings of the year.
It would be the Cents to strike first, with the AP Jack Henderson scoring his first in the BCHL. Henderson sniped from the highslot to beat Justin Katz, assists to Davide Patella and Ashton Taylor.
West Kelowna would retake the lead late in the first period with two goals in the final 93 seconds. First Christophe Farmer blasted one past John Hicks. Then a scramble to the side of the net saw the puck somehow squeak past Hicks with just 12 seconds left on the clock.
In the second period, West K would begin to strut their offensive muscle, with goals coming from their deadly blueline.
First it was a great individual effort from Nick Ardanaz who skated freely around the o-zone before cutting down the right-wing and beating a screened Hicks.
Tyler Rubin would net the second of the night from Warriors defenseman.
Just past the midway point of the stanza, Tyson Jugnauth would snipe top corner on the powerplay to complete the second period scoring. West K leading 5-1 after 40 minutes.
Hicks stopping 26/31 through two.
Late in the third period the Cents would draw a penalty and with nothing to loss, Head Coach Curtis Toneff would pull Hicks to create a 6-on-4.
With two extra-men, the Cents would still be beat by West K, during a stretch of play Toneff referred to as embarrassing, with West K potting two more into the empty net to win 7-1.
The Warriors are 2-2-1 in their last five games, and despite the win on Tuesday night could be making changes to their lineup here tonight.
Felix Trudeau continues to lead the way with 50 points (25G,25A).
Previous meetings;
The Cents and Warriors have played five times so far this season with West K victorious is all meetings. There has been some lopsided scorelines including back to back 7-1 finals and a 8-2 in January, with all those games being played at the NVMA.
Blue Paint Battle;
John Hicks has been playing well recently and is now 0-10-1 with a .886 SV% and a 5.39 GAA.
Jackson Baker played his best game as Cent on Friday night stopping 50/55 shots versus Penticton. Baker is 0-5 with a .842 SV% and a 8.32 GAA in limited minutes.
The Warriors are led by 20-year old netminder Johnny Derrick who is 17-8-1 with a .899 SV% and 3.15 GAA. The backup is Justin Katz at 7-5, .916 SV% and 2.72 GAA.
Special Teams Comparison;
West K – PP 22.0% (10/18) PK 80.4% (7/18)
Cents – PP 9.6% (18/18) PK 66.1% (18/18)
By: Michael Reeve via Q101 Merritt
