The Merritt Centennials continue to be mystified by the Prince George Spruce Kings as they were bested again by way of a 7-0 shutout on Wednesday night.
In the first period the Cents couldn’t muster much. Despite some decent zone time they only registered one shot on net. Colton Phillip-Watts kept the team in the game, but Christian Buono tallied a late period goal when he deked to the backhand on a partial break and beat PW. Shots after 1 were 11-1 PG.
The second stanza saw the Spruce Kings continue to pour it on. Kolton Cousins continued his hot streak by adding another goal, and the Nick Rheaume fired one short side and beat PW to the post. With about 7 minutes remaining in the 2nd period, and the Cents only mustering 5 shots total to that point, Head Coach Derek Sweet-Coulter elected to pull a goalie swap and put in Brayden Melnyk. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the desired effect as Buono would add another on a turnover to make it 4-0. Shots after 2 were 22-7 PG.
The final frame saw Prince George continue to pile on the offense. Hunor Torzsok scored his first of the pod with a beautiful skate by deflection to make it 5-0. Simon Labelle got his first of the pod later in the frame to make it 6-0, and Christian Buono topped off the night with a hat trick goal to make it 7-0. PG went 1/5 on the powerplay while the Cents were 0/5. Final shots were 34-16 Prince George.
After the game Derek Sweet-Coulter said the injuries aren’t helping, but the boys need to be better.
“I feel bad because the boys are playing hurt, they’re battling, but we need to find a way to dig deeper and find that will to keep pushing.”
The Cents will get that chance tomorrow night when they play against the Chilliwack Chiefs at 5PM.
