The Merritt Centennials wrap their first week of meaningful hockey with a lot of promise, but in exhibition they fall to 0-2 as the Vipers were able to slither past on two occasions this weekend.
On Friday night, it was a goaltending affair until the third, with all goalies who saw action standing tall through two periods of play. Vincent Duplessis looked great in his first meaningful game action in almost a year stopping all shots he faced, and the team was playing well in front of him defensively. Despite a penalty filled second period, the Centennials managed to stay perfect on the penalty kill throughout the game, but cracks showed in the third and the Vipers were able to take advantage with two quick goals. The Cents showed some push back in the final 10 minutes and were able to come within one with a blast from the point from Mattias Dal Monte. Unfortunately, the Vipers were able to ice the game with an empty netter with just over a minute to go.
The follow up game on Saturday saw the Cents take the bus to Vernon, and it was another tight checking affair. With a veteran heavy lineup, the Cents again were having trouble breaking through on the score sheet despite a myriad of chances. Once again it was the Vipers who found the back of the net first, this time on a deflection from Teddy Wooding, it was the only blemish on 16 shots in the first start for Austin Roden. Vincent Duplessis barely got into the game before he fished a puck out of his net as Wyatt Andres was able to beat him five-hole. In the third, the Cents finally got their due as Mathieu Gosselin banged home a rebound from Brendan Schneider, and the line that developed some chemistry over camp with Brad Cocca all got a point on the play. However, it wouldn’t be enough as the Cents couldn’t rally another goal despite pulling Vincent Duplessis late in the third.
The returning players for Merritt look to have all developed over the summer with some of the notable improvements on defense coming in the forms of Mike Van Unen and Mattias Dal Monte. Van Unen just looks so much more confident with the puck on his stick, and on the rush, jumping up into the play more and making smart plays. Dal Monte has worked hard in the gym over the summer, and it has shown up in his physical game as he delivered some bone crunching hits in the game on Friday, and then backed it up with a blast from the point to get the Cents lone goal of the game.
Up front among the most improved are Brad Cocca and Mathieu Gosselin. Cocca seems even more comfortable in tight situations, and using his already high calibre stick handling skills to deke through defenseman. Gosselin has made a move to the centre of the ice, and has been able to show off his offensive awareness, finding and putting players in good situations with the puck, and using his natural nose for the net.
With 2 more exhibition games to go, the team has a real chance to get firing on all cylinders before the start of the regular season.
Despite losing both games (3-1 and 2-1 respectively) the Cents out shot the Vipers 90-59 over the two games, Head Coach and General Manager Joe Martin feels like it’s a matter of time before his new look line up starts producing results.
“You look at Gosselin, Cocca, and Schneider, you look at Wicks, Van Unen, and Granowicz and I see a lot of skill, and a lot of speed. They’ve looked great in camp, but they’ve essentially played one game together. Now is when we start to put in the work in practice to build some chemistry and see how far these guys can go. One game isn’t enough time to split them up, if guys give it that effort every night, there’s no reason to change things too much.”
Martin adds that he’s happy with the new players as well.
“You saw them creating offense, but also having to play good defense as well, and that’s a great test for those young guys. If they can continue to chip in with chances, I think it pushes the rest of the lineup to be better.”
The Cents will look to be better, and get their first win of the exhibition season on Wednesday when they travel to Prince George to take on the Spruce Kings, and will have a couple full days of practice as a group to work on things.
