The Merritt Centennials ended the season off just short of 1st place in the Interior, but one player is finishing with a bang.
Goaltender Austin Roden has been named the BCHL Player of the Week for his stand up performance, the league announced Monday.
Roden won all three of his starts last week, stopping 115 of 121 shots for a .950 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average.
The Victoria native started off his week by making 38 saves on 39 shots in a 4-1 win over the West Kelowna Warriors. Friday night was his busiest of the week as he faced 46 shots and stopped 44 of them en route to a 3-2 shootout win over the Langley Rivermen. He was named third star of the game. Roden capped off his strong week on Saturday with a 33-save performance and another third star in a 4-3 overtime win over the Vernon Vipers.
The 20-year-old finishes the season with a record of 27-11-2. He is tied for the sixth-highest save percentage in the league at .912 and his 2.92 goals-against average is tied for ninth-best. He also has two shutouts while playing the fourth-most minutes in the BCHL. His 27 wins are the most in recorded club history, and he played in his 100th BCHL game on Saturday Vs Vernon.
Austin Roden joins Mathieu Gosselin as the only other Cent to be named the Player of the Week this season.
Sharing in the limelight is Cents forward Mathieu Gosselin who was named an honorable mention for last weeks work. In 3 games played ‘The Goose’ was flying high to take his season point total to 60 points.
On Tuesday in West Kelowna Gosselin was in on all the offense, scoring twice, and setting up two others as the Cents won 4-1. He also tallied the game winning goal while earning first star. On Friday in Langley, the Quebec City native tied the game at 2, and then recorded what would be the Shoot Out Game Winning Goal in a 3-2 victory over the Rivermen. He followed that up with the overtime winner in a 4-3 thriller in front of a sell out crowd at the NVMA to finish the season against the Vernon Vipers.
Merritt will host the Trail Smoke Eaters in Game 1 of their first-round series on Friday night. Tickets available at the Cents Marketing Office throughout the week from 10am -4pm or give Jared a call at 250-378-3604.
