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Powerplay The Difference Against Penticton

The Merritt Centennials saw their win streak snapped by their Interior Rival Penticton Vees on Sunday Afternoon.

The first period, and the game saw the Cents just not able to finish off their chances. Tyler Ho scored the only even strength goal of the night for the Vees 9 minutes into the first to open the scoring after some pretty passing from Penticton to make it 1-0. On the powerplay, Liam Malmquist was able to get enough on the shot to power through the glove of Marshall to make it a 2-0 game at the 16 minute mark. The Cents had opportunities but couldn’t cash in past one of the top netminders in the league Yaniv Perets. Shots after 1 were 17-11 Vees.

The Vees were able to use their powerplay to the advantage twice more in the 2nd period. Evan McIntyre got credit for a shot that found its way through a thick crowd in front of Marshall, and then Danny Weight scored late in the frame on a nifty pass from behind the net, that had everyone fooled and gave Weight the open net short side to make it 4-0. Marshall was victimized for all but one of the goals against on the night, and shots after 2 were 36 -24.

In the final frame with more 5-on-5 time the Cents skated with the Penticton Vees just fine. Josh Kagan tallied his team leading 10th of the season on a shot down low through the wickets of Perets to break the shutout bid, but it didn’t propel the Cents to the comeback and 4-1 would be the final. Final Shots were 42-38.

After the game, Head Coach Derek Sweet Coulter said the team just has to buckle down and bury on their opportunities, and try and create the 2nd chances.

“We were creating out there, but when your a team that’s looking for scoring you have to try and create the second opportunities, and we saw that with the final goal.”

The Cents will regroup for a 3 game week against the Chilliwack Chiefs on Wednesday before a double-header down under in Wenatchee on the weekend.