Centennials get Robbed in the Dogpound, Denied the "Great 8"

(the game winner with 3 seconds left, courtesy of Evan Hammond's Bulldogs blog... video underneath)

 

It's as if the hockey gods were playing a cruel joke on Merritt. It's the definition of "tease and denial". Against all odds, the Centennials stormed back in the 3rd period but were denied their 8th straight victory by a Bulldogs buzzer beater. The term "heartbreaker" is often overused, probably more by me than anyone else, but this is what heartbreak really is:

• I said before, you never quite know what you're gonna get when 2 stranger teams meet for the first and only time. And tonight, what we got was pure entertainment

• Merritt was a little slow out of the gate and didn't show much jump, which was natural considering the marathon trip that started at 5:30am in Merritt. They were fine defensively, but had almost no life offensively, not registering their 1st shot until about the 6 minute mark of the period

• after both teams struggled on their respective 1st power play of the game, the Bulldogs were the first team in 8 tries to score first on Merritt, using their 2nd power play to get on the board on a Turner Popoff slap shot from the right circle. This seemed to knock the Cents off guard a bit, as it was not only the first time since Dec 29 (over 3 weeks) that they had surrendered the first goal, but also the first time they trailed in a hockey game since 2011

• as the period wore on, the Centennials found their legs and the game really opened up. There was plenty of up and down action and odd man rushes both ways, creating an exciting atmosphere and an entertaining game to broadcast. But the 2 netminders stole the show; Lino Chimienti for Merritt, and Cameron Large (affiliate callup from the Comox Valley Glacier Kings of the VIJHL) for Alberni Valley

• the 2nd period, as maybe expected, was Merritt's best, as they pushed hard for the equalizer and created some glorious chances but simply didn't have the finish... they weren't crisp on a lot of passes and made a lot of unforced errors that took away more scoring opportunities, sometimes on 2nd chances. But you could tell the effort was there

• after Sabourin had his point-shot blocked, new Bulldog Hunter Stewart sprung himself for a breakaway, and Bulldogs captain Trent Dorais was able to bury the rebound, against the flow of play, to give Alberni Valley a 2-0 lead. Now you could tell the Cents were a little worried\

• Lino Chimienti continued to stand tall and give Merritt a chance to climb back into it, but again they had trouble with their finish, including on a late power play, where the top line trio of Stack, Soquila and Brears did everything but score. It looked like a do or die power play to get life for the 3rd, but as it turned out, it wouldn't really factor into the game story at all

• at the conclusion of Merritt's failed late 2nd period power play, Brandon Bruce got 5 minutes and a game misconduct for a hit to the head in the last minute of play. This meant that the Bulldogs would get 5 minutes of power play no matter what, 4:25 of which carried over into the 3rd period

• the Centennials were full credit for a superb PK on the 5 minute major, but then Evan Stack took a high-sticking penalty that put his team down 2 men for a full 2 minutes. It looked to be the final straw for Merritt, but once again, we were fooled

• Merritt played the 2-man down situation as perfectly as they could and Lino Chimienti was clutch... they were able to kill off the whole thing unscathed and get back to even strength with 15 minutes still left to play. A predicted turning point, and it sure was...

• Regan Soquila forced the Bulldogs into a turnover from behind their own goal, allowing Evan Stack to cut in from the top of the left circle uncontested, and he made a great move to the backhand to get Merritt on the board. You could sense the penalty kill was a complete momentum and game changer

• Merritt came fast and furious at the Bulldogs looking for the equalizer, but still relied heavily on Lino Chimienti to bail them out on a few occasions, which he did

• finally, on their 3rd power play, the Cents would strike again, and once again it would be the captain... driving hard around the defense on the left wing, cutting in with a shot that appeared to be stopped, but somehow trickled across the line to tie the game at 2. The Merritt bench was in jubilation. The guy who took the penalty to give the Bulldogs a 5 on 3 wound up tying the game himself with 2 beautiful goals

• as if Merritt's fortunes weren't good enough already, Bulldogs defender Walker Hyland would take a high-sticking penalty with just over 2 minutes left in regulation to allow Merritt to put an exclamation mark on the comeback. And they had a few chances, particularly a superb chance for Brayden Low who pick-pocketed a Bulldog at their own blueline and created a 2 on 1 which led to a breakaway... but Cameron Large came up "Large" turning aside the shot with his right pad and blocker, allowing the game to continue, and presumably, go to overtime. BUT...

• just as everyone expected overtime, Hyland stepped out of the box, was fed a pass to center by Berkholtz with 10 seconds left, and the rest, as they say, is history... Hyland danced into the zone, dropped a pass off for Ryan Lough, who made a great move around the defense, and went backdoor to Hyland again... with 3 seconds left, Hyland, who almost cost his team the game with the late penalty, buried the opportunity past a sprawling Chimienti, and THAT was how Merritt suffered their first loss of 2012, and saw their win streak end at 7

Here's how it all ended for Merritt (video courtesy of Evan Hammond's Bulldogs blog):




*the game wasn't necessarily chippy/dirty, but there were lots of big hits, many questionable ones, and I believe the referee Carl Poole let a lot of things go both ways, that maybe he shouldn't have. The Bulldogs players were dropping like flies it seemed, but credit to them they kept bouncing back up and playing the next shift

*this was the 2nd game in a row where only the top line scored for Merritt... in the last 2 games, Brears and Stack have been the only ones to find the back of the net. The other lines are working hard, but it will become a problem if they can't find a way to turn hard work into goals

*both Captains led by example, as the Bulldogs Trent Dorais was the best skater for them all night long, picking up a goal and an assist... but he created many more chances and played a very solid 2-way game

*Cameron Large did exactly what coach Luke Pierce and I feared... in his first BCHL game of the season, he stood on his head and stole the show... he was extremely clutch and basically "stole" this game for the Bulldogs

*Lino Chimienti did all he could, but it wasn't enough. The Popoff goal in the 1st period snapped a streak of 155 minutes and 25 seconds of shutout hockey for Lino. The loss also snapped his own personal 5 game winning streak

*Merritt's run of perfect penalty killing ended at 19 straight kills tonight (they were a perfect 16 for 16 in the 4 games leading up to this), but their power play goal gives them 5 straight games with at least 1 PP goal

*Not only does the loss snap Merritt's 7 game win streak, it also snaps a 9 game points streak (their first regulation loss in 10 games), and it snaps what was a very impressive 5 game road winning streak



The sting of this game is tough to take, even for myself. I too got caught up in the ride, and it's hard not to feel bad for the guys the way they lost this game. It just doesn't seem fair. Not that they lost in general, but the way they lost. The post-game meal didn't taste quite as good as it should have, the bus ride back to the hotel felt depressing, and back in my room, where I'm usually pretty jovial, all I really wanted to do was stare at the ceiling. It was hard to motivate myself to get my thoughts down on paper (or on screen I should say). But here they are. It's a tough pill to swallow for everyone involved I'm sure, and I can only imagine that the players and coaches feel even worse.

But the Centennials have no time to dwell on it or feel sorry for themselves, as it's a quick turnaround before heading to the provincial capital to take on the spiraling Victoria Grizzlies tonight

***As I am at the hotel and have no access to clips from the game, I will be unable to post my usual audio highlights for this game or the next vs Victoria, but by some point on Monday, I will try to have the audio highlights up from all 3 weekend games