Cents Remain "Chilly" in Chilliwack, drop their 3rd straight, 4-1 to the Chiefs

It was another strange game to make sense of, and one that Merritt probably thought they should have had, but the Chilliwack Chiefs were tactful in their approach in a crucial game for their 2nd place hopes

• the first period was one of the strangest periods I've ever seen. Merritt fired everything towards the goal (and I think the Chilliwack shot counters were counting any puck that entered the Chiefs zone a shot on goal), and wound up outshooting the Chiefs 21-7, but I thought Chilliwack was the better team. Most of Merritt's shots were perimeter floaters with no traffic, and it was the easiest 21 save period that any goalie might ever see. You would think that the Centennials were all over the Chiefs, but this simply wasn't the case, and backup Bryton Udy wasn't as busy as he appeared to be on the boxscore. Out of 21 shots, I counted 1 mediocre scoring chance

• meanwhile on the other end, the Cents were able to avoid getting pinned in their own zone, but a few defensive breakdowns/mental errors led to numerous quality scoring chances for the Chiefs. Despite just 7 shots, I think they must have had 5 or so grade A scoring chances, and they converted on 2 of them. The first was a wicked wrister from the top of the left circle by Hutchinson (his 1st of the season) to make it 1-0, and that was followed up by David Bondra getting set up on the doorstep by Malcolm Gould to make it 2-0 (could have been a Merritt tripping penalty on the play that wasn't called, and I think confused the Cents)

• the 1st period wound down with Dylan Chanter trying to jumpstart his team. He instigated a fight with the smaller, skilled Bondra, and David (3 years older than Dylan) obliged him. I give both guys credit, as Chanter took on someone 3 years older, and Bondra took on someone significantly bigger. It was mostly a wrestling match with a few non-destructive jabs each way, but all in all, no harm done

• the 2nd period, the Cents seemed to come out flying, as if inspired from the last minute fight by Chanter. Unlike the first period, they had the Chiefs pinned in their own zone for much of the time and applied some heavy pressure. They had plenty of scoring chances too, and outshot Chilliwack 15-6, but Bryton Udy and his defense held the door shut and held Merritt off the scoresheet, including an unbelievable last minute save by Udy off of Brandon Pfeil, who appeared to have half an open net from the slot

• the 2nd period ended just like the first, with a scrap, as Billy Marshall took on Josh Hansen (who earlier tried to challenge Payton Schaefer), and although Marshall lost his footing at the end, he was able to throw some hard rights and efficiently block the punches coming his way, so I would give him the victory... another attempt to try and spark his club (this was the first time in 6 meetings with the 2 teams that the game got really emotional)

• in the 3rd period, I think Merritt was a bit dejected from their lack of success in a dominant 2nd period. They had a big drop-off in emotion and intensity, but on the tail end of a power play, on a bit of a broken play, Regan Soquila (back in the lineup after missing just 1 game to injury) set up a streaking Evan Stack, who cut in down the right wing and snapped a wicked wrister past the stick side of Udy to spoil the shutout and get the Cents on the board. Chad Brears was given the only assist, and he should have had the 2nd one, but the first assists should have definitely gone to Soquila. This was the 1st goal in over 100 minute of hockey for Merritt, and only the 11th goal in 6 games (10 of them from the 1st line)

• the early goal sparked the Cents and they seemed to have a lot of jump, buzzing in the Chiefs zone, sniffing out the equalizer... it looked like they had it when Reichert through cross-crease pass back-door for Low (who was very noticeable and dangerous tonight, but unlucky), and he fanned on an open net for a chance to tie it up. As I predicted at the time, that might be the best chance the Cents had to tie it, and it was

• with just under 9 minutes left and the Chiefs on a power play, Spencer Graboski won a face-off back to Shay Laurent (best defenseman on the night at both ends of the ice, very noticeable in a good way), and then Graboski tipped Laurent's point shot down past the glove of Steel to restore the Chiefs 3-1 lead. At that point, Chilliwack stole back the momentum and never looked back, as the Cents didn't have much of a push-back. Less than 4 minutes later, with just 2 seconds left on a Chilliwack power play, it looked as though Chanter got tripped at the side of the goal, and before Merritt could protest, the puck was centered on top of the crease for Dhaliwal, and he made no mistake to make it 4-1 and put the game out of reach

• the rest of the game (5 minutes) was an effective use of clock management by the Chiefs, as they didn't really give Merritt a sniff, and put it on cruise control for the 4-1 victory. Shockingly, after getting outshot 36-13 through 2 periods, it was Chilliwack who outshot Merritt 17-7 in the 3rd, though it didn't feel like the period was that lopsided (much like the 1st period didn't seem that lopsided for Merritt)

The coveted "Fred Page Cup", awarded to the BCHL Champions each year, was on display at the Prospera Centre, as it makes its way around all the buildings in the BCHL. This is what the Centennials are fighting for: 

*The refereeing in this game was certainly not the "issue" of Merritt. They got the majority of the breaks and "got away" with more, but I thought both teams got away with far too many obvious "must-calls", and it made the game very tough for the players, to be able to read what they could or couldn't get away with. On two of the Chilliwack goals, there should have been penalties (once to Merritt, once to Chilliwack), and them not being called led to confusion and chaos

*Tyler Steel had a very underrated game for someone who gave up 4 goals on 30 shots. He might have faced less than Udy, but the amount of scoring chances he faced was much higher, definitely in the double digits again. I felt that once again the goalie was kind of hung out to try, not just with a lack of offense, but with too much indifference defensively, as evidenced when Anderson White was allowed to walk from the right point right into the slot for a point blank opportunity when it was already 4-1 (the last clip on the highlights)

*One of the most disappointing things for Merritt about losing this game is that, minus Sean Maktaak, they iced a full roster of healthy players. Meanwhile Chilliwack had 4 significant injuries plus a significant suspension to 1st-liner Derek Huisman. As a result, they were forced to play with 4 AP players (two of them 15 year olds, one a 16 year old), including an entire 4th line of AP's

*Ultimately, it's hard to blame the Cents for their recent struggles, which include 3 straight losses and 4 out of the last 5 games. It is almost unheard of at the junior level to play 9 games in 15 days, unless it's the playoffs. I'm not sure why the schedule worked out this way, but the Cents have been beaten down with hockey games and travel of late, and with 47 games, have now played at least 2 more than anybody else in the league, and at least 3 more than any playoff team on either conference. The fatigue really showed in the last couple games, especially the 3rd period vs Penticton and tonight vs Chilliwack. There was just no gas left in the tank, and that's something that's hard to blame the players for

*keep in mind that with Chilliwack winning tonight and holding 4 games in hand, if they win all 4, the deficit is just 2 pts (1 game), and all of a sudden this stranglehold on 2nd place for the Cents is on thin ice. With 3 of the next 4 games coming up against the Vernon Vipers, a bad stretch here could see Merritt fighting for their playoff lives instead of for home ice advantage

*the good news is, with a full week off now to rest and recuperate, come next Friday's game in Vernon, the Cents should be ready and hungry, and hopefully with the least busy schedule of anyone in the last month and a half, they can use that to their advantage and go on a bit of a run heading into the playoffs

In the meantime, here are the highlights from the 4-1 loss in Chilliwack:

Merritt @ Chilliwack Jan 27 Highlights by agreb21

(later this weekend I will try to post my interview with Peter Bondra's son David Bondra, as well as Penticton's sniper and the league's current 3rd leading scorer, Connor Reilly. Both were very well spoken and had some interesting things to say about their team and family background)