Cents get Humbled by Penticton, Lose to the Vees 9-0

It was a busy night for the 4 referees trying to keep control of this one

It was a night to forget, no doubt about it, but you can't judge a book by its cover. The score got out of hand on the Cents, but the boys showed heart and guts in the way they battled and competed right to the end.

• when you're playing a team with 25 straight wins and three 1st lines that can beat any top line in the league, well you don't want to give them any sort of early life to give them a jumpstart. But unfortunately, that's what happened. Steven Fogarty made a nifty move out of the right corner to get around Billy Marshall and shoveled a backhander over the left shoulder of Chimienti to open the scoring just 17 seconds into the game (still don't get why they gave the goal to Benik and never changed it... he was nowhere near the puck when it went in)

• a goal for Penticton that early could have easily opened the floodgates right then and there, but the Cents deserve credit for pushing back and generating some offensive chances of their own. They had a fair amount, and even looked pretty good on their first power play, but unfortunately, they just don't have the type of "finish" that the Vees do, and you have to give credit to Vees netminder Michael Garteig for being sharp and his defense/forwards for committing to defense in front of him and taking away many 2nd chances

• while Merritt couldn't capitalize on their power play chance, Penticton only needed one to make the Cents pay. They looked extremely confident and dominant in their set-up and worked the puck around perfectly, not allowing the Cents to get it out. Not only is their puck movement crisp and fast, but they also have a high hockey IQ, as the players without the puck know exactly where to go when, and Ryan Reilly snuck in through a seam to get set up by Fogarty for an easy tap-in to make it 2-0

• as the 2nd period began, I said it right away... the Centennials were still very much in it, but they HAD to have the next goal... that 3rd goal would be the one that decides which way this game goes... just as I made this comment, Fogarty set up Benik on the doorstep to make 3-0 just 22 seconds into the 2nd period. When you give up 1 goal seconds into the first period, that's deflating, when you give another one up seconds into the 2nd period, that's just devastating 

• to Merritt's credit, they didn't let the early goal in the 2nd phase them either, as they stayed hungry and tried to fight back. But again they were snake-bit and stifled by the Vees team defense (an underrated aspect of their game), along with the sharp tending by Michael Garteig (who leads the league in all goalie stats, including tying Lino now with 4 shutouts). 

• in the 2nd period, just like the first, Lino Chimienti was counted on a lot, and to his credit, he stood tall and did everything he could to keep the Cents in it. It'd be hard to blame him on any of the 3 goals anyways

• the one area that the Cents were lacking in is just "helping out their goaltender"... on far too many occasions the Vees would get point blank chances in the high and low slot, whether it be one-timers or guys just being uncontested and being allowed to walk right in for a grade A scoring chance. This was simply too much of a burden on Lino, and eventually it got to him in the 3rd

• the 3rd period the Centennials didn't seem to come out with a whole lot of energy, and they struggled to generate many scoring chances in the first couple minutes, to which Penticton responded with the figurative "nail in the coffin"

• to back up my prior point, Bryce Gervais was allowed to walk out of the right halfwall right into the slot and snuck one through the legs of an exhausted Chimienti to make the game 4-0. This was the point where the Centennials seemed to play deflated and frustrated, more than anything else. There were again a few guys who, out of frustration, tried to do too much themselves and lost the puck without even a shot on goal, forgetting the whole "team" aspect of hockey, which tends to happen when a game gets out of hand

• as another sprinkle of salt in the wound, and to back up "the kind of night it was", Steven Fogarty won a neutral zone face-off forward for his team into the Merritt zone, and Mancuso, backing up, tried to make a D to D pass to Marshall but fanned on it, allowed Fogarty to steal and bury the puck from the bottom of the right circle over the shoulder of a clearly beat down Chimienti. I think a lot of people expected, at this point, that Chimienti would get the mercy hook, but he was left in there the whole way, which turned out to be a mistake

• out of sheer anger and frustration, the Cents lost their cool and started to get really chippy and violent with the Vees, and this culminated in Sabourin instigating a fight with an unwilling Bryce Gervais. Because Sabourin started the fight and threw the only punches, he received 2 minutes for instigating, 5 minutes for fighting and a game misconduct, resulting in a 7 minute Penticton power play with just 5:40 left in the game. And the Vees would make them pay...

• Wade Murphy scored a wicked one-timer on the first power play for Penticton to make it 6-0. That was followed up by DJ Jones leaning into a slap shot at the top of the left circle to get his first goal and point as a Vee to make it 7-0, then Wade Murphy walked into the high slot and fired a shot stick side on Lino to make it 8-0, followed by Connor Reilly walking out of the right corner (again uncontested) and tucking the puck through Lino's legs on top of the crease to mercifully cap the scoring at 9-0 (I have no idea how the goal was awarded to Wade Murphy, who I don't even think was on the ice... 2nd bozo scoring play awarded). 4 power play goals in 1 and a half minutes was the end result, that was the damage, and it once again emphasized the need to stay disciplined against the top power play in the league from a literal "all-star team"

*Overall, the score was definitely not reflective of Merritt's effort. The scoreboard makes it seem like they didn't show up, when that simply wasn't the case. There were a few dominant shifts which the fans really appreciate. At the end of the day, they were overwhelmed by Penticton's skill, and it's simply not fair to expect any team to be able to keep up with an all-star team, which is what Penticton is

*Based on how fired up the Cents were before this game, I think had Lino made that first save off of Fogarty, and had the Cents scored the 1st goal (I know, coulda, shoulda, woulda), the tone of this game might have been a lot different. But the early goal in the 1st and 2nd was just too much to be able to overcome emotionally

*Despite the fact that Merritt gave up 51 shots, there were a lot more directed towards the net that never got through. As the game wore on and the score got out of hand, the Cents commitment to defense started to slide a bit, but especially in the 1st period and a few times in the 2nd, the guys would sacrifice their bodies in front of pucks and, as the saying goes, do everything it takes to get the job done. This included a heroic block by Sean Maktaak in the first period that saw him leave the game and not return (hopefully not that serious since he recently missed 5 games due a concussion and Merritt is already without Regan Soquila). But at least for the first half of the game, Merritt's heart and mind was in the right place, and they just couldn't buy a break offensively, or defensively, when you consider the timing of the goals to start the 1st and 2nd

*Lino Chimienti winds up being the scapegoat very unfairly. As you can hear in the highlight (if you can call it that) package, he made a lot of key stops, and he was extremely busy facing 51 shots. Eventually he was just out of gas (like most of the team I think) and hung out to dry. And he never got the mercy hook. I'm sure the players feel bad for him, because he really battled hard all night

*Michael Garteig also deserves lots of credit making 32 saves on 32 shots. His players helped him much more than Lino was helped, but he sometimes unfairly gets criticized for being a product of the teams he plays in front of (Penticton and Powell River last year). Though his league-leading save percentage speaks for itself, and with 3 shutouts in his last 4 games, he now ties Lino Chimienti for the league lead in shutouts with 4

*I understand the fans passion and loyalty to the team, which I think is great, and I understand their anger and frustration with the game tonight. But when things got chippy, during a few stoppages and even after the game was complete, I was surprised to hear some of the comments coming from the crowd directed towards the officials and the Penticton bench. Vocally supporting your team is one thing, but verbally assaulting the opposition is a whole different thing. Our fans are some of the loudest and proudest in the league, but I'm sure we also want a reputation of being classy. I think that line was crossed on a couple of occasions tonight, mainly during Penticton's marathon power play. And it seemed like all that negative attention only spurred on the Vees further and helped them feast with 4 power play markers. Any winning team is a hated team, especially when they have all but one of the league's top scorers and are on a 25 game winning streak.  But you don't want to give them even more motivation than necessary, which is what I think a few of that fans did tonight with their comments. Remember, these type of teams "love" being hated and thrive on it. Keep that in mind if you think you're "helping" your team

Here are the highlights (yes, there are a few for Merritt too) from a pretty forgetful night vs the Vees:

Penticton @ Merritt Jan 25 Highlights by agreb21

........ the Centennials will get a serious practice day in on Thursday before traveling to Chilliwack on Friday to start a 4 game road trip. They won't return home for a game now until Valentine's Day on Tuesday, February 14th, when they host the Vernon Vipers