PREVIEW – The Merritt Centennials (20-26-4-1) are back at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena tonight after playing four games on the road, as they are set to play the Langley Rivermen (22-18-10-2). The last time that these two teams met was way back in September at the BCHL Bauer Showcase where it was the Rivermen who came out on top with a 4-3 final.
At the showcase, it was Langley who opened up the scoring at the 4:03 mark of the first. Just 57 seconds into the second, it was Nicholas Wicks that tied the game 1-1, but just three minutes later it was Nicolas Ponak getting his second goal and having the Rivermen retake the lead 2-1. At 10:47 of the middle frame, Merritt tied things up once again, the tying goal coming from Zach Zorn and at the 18:35 mark of the second, the Centennials got their first lead of the game with Christian Sabin getting the puck past Chad Cromer.
Just a minute and a half into the third Langley tied things up and at the 17:03 mark Nicholas Ponak completed his hattrick getting the puck past Jacob Berger.
The Centennials and Rivermen are both coming off of a win tonight as Merritt shutout the Cowichan Valley Capitals (9-37-2-5) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon, and Langley beating the Surrey Eagles (24-21-2-6) in a thrilling 7-6 final over at the South Surrey Arena.
PHOTO: Garrett James
