The Merritt Centennials and Prince George Spruce Kings met for the 2nd time in the pod season, and after tonight the Cents will be wary of future meetings as they fell by a score of 11-2.
After have a good opening shift the Centennials quickly found themselves on the penalty kill. They managed to kill that off, but when they got a man advantage of their own, they surrendered a shorthanded goal to ex-Cent Christian Buono to open the scoring 1-0. Under a minute later Andrew Seaman scored on a beautiful set play with a redirection on a slap pass to the front. Colton Phillips-Watts was making his first BCHL start, but neither of the early goals could be pinned on the goaltender. Late in the period the Cents got back in the game after Jerzy Orchard gained the line on the right win, dished behind the back to Erickson who threw a low shot on net before Jake McLean was able to bang home the rebound to make it 2-1. At the tail end of the first the Centennials found themselves on the two man advantage, but ran out of time at the buzzer to tie the game. Shots after 1 were 9-6 PG.
The Centennials started the 2nd with the two man advantage and couldn’t make good, and much like the game previous it proved to be the turning point. The Centennials took a penalty after failing to convert, Christian Buono was able to walk down main street and fire a shot from the slot untouched that went top corner and PG scored 3 goals in a minute and a half to take a demanding 5-1 lead. That would spell the end of young Phillips-Watts night in net. Seaman would add another before the period was out to make it a 6-1 hole heading into the 3rd. Shots after 2 were 26-13.
In the final frame Prince George continued to run up the score and show no mercy. The lone bright spot was a Talon Zakall breakaway goal sprung by Jake McLean, but other than that it was all Prince George as they’d tally 5 more times in period 3 to make it an 11-2 final. Final shots were 37-18 PG.
After the game, Head Coach Derek Sweet-Coulter wasn’t available for comment.
There’s no time to dwell on the loss for the Centennials as they are right back at it tomorrow night against the Chilliwack Chiefs at 5PM on BCHLTV.ca and Q101.ca
