Merritt 22-10-2-5 (51 pts) - 2nd in Interior
LAST GAME: 3-0 win over Vernon last night (won 4 in a row, points in 6 straight)
Chilliwack 20-14-0-2 (42 pts) - 4th in Interior
LAST GAME: 4-3 win over Prince George last night (snapped a 5 game losing skid)
Season Series: Merritt 3-1 (a little deceiving, as 3 of the 4 games were decided by 1 goal, one of those in overtime, and the last game Merritt won, Chilliwack scored the only goal on their own net. Including an empty netter in a 4-1 win, the Cents have outscored Chilliwack 10-6 through the 4 games, for an average of 2.5 to 1.5)
*FIRST AND FOREMOST: A huge congratulations is in order, because through 39 games this season, the Centennials have just matched last year's win total at 22 and point total at 51... they will do a lot more damage in their final 21 games... this is a remarkable turnaround, especially considering they started this season as poorly as the last, winning just 1 of their first 8 games. Hats off to Luke Pierce and Joe Martin, and every single player on the team that have worked their butts off to make this happen.
-after an inconsistent start out of the gate after the Christmas break, the Cents have gotten progressively better, and still kept winning games in different ways while making mistakes, but that was capped off by a near flawless effort last night vs Vernon. A shutout win for Lino, 1st goal in his 1st game for Carter Shinkaruk, a great crowd on home ice, it was just a feel-good night overall, and that atmosphere has elevated Merritt back to the peak of their game, having picked up 11 of a possible 12 points in their last 6 games.
-fatigue will start to play a factor tonight for Merritt, but you would hope not too much, since there's another game upcoming tomorrow afternoon. And, even though the gap on Chilliwack is 9 points, with the Chiefs holding 3 games in hand, this is once again "THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE SEASON" for both teams.
-the Cents are firing on all cylinders right now, getting timely offense from spread our sources, great goaltending, and extremely tight defense. Not to mention special teams. After a 10 for 21 stretch on the power play, the Cents went 1 for their next 13, but scored a pair last night to get back on track. And as for the PK, Merritt has killed off 44 of their last 49 for an average barely under 90% (would be tops in the league). This is a well-oiled machine right now that is headed very much in the right direction
-for Chilliwack, they were headed in a polar opposite direction, but they pulled out some heroics last night... down 3-2 with less than 3 minutes left to Prince George, they were in danger of losing their 6th straight game and almost taking themselves out of a playoff spot after picking up 15 of a possible 16 points in the 8 games leading up to this skid. But the Chiefs came up with a pair of goals in 22 seconds, much to the delight of both Merritt and Vernon, as they avoided overtime and held off the Spruce Kings for their first win since Dec. 17 over Salmon Arm (close to a month, though we had the Christmas break in between)
-A real positive sign for Merritt is that they're finding different ways to win these days, and not just relying on their goaltender to steal the show like they had to in years past. The goalies have been very good, and both guys now sport a very respectable GAA of below 3 and save percentage of above .900. But they haven't had to stand on their head nearly as much as in past years, and that's a good sign for the development of the overall team. Even though they're tied with a couple of teams for being the 3rd lowest scoring in the league, they're playing tight defense and getting timely offense, and still, for the most part (with the exception of the snoozefest Dec 30 in Chilliwack), making their games exciting for fans at home and on the road.
-The Chiefs are in an interesting position where they still have to be aware of Vernon behind them, trying to chase down the final playoff spot. They're currently 5 points up on the Vipers with a game in hand as well, but you have to think the Vipes will find a way to get on a roll soon and make a push. So Chilliwack has to make sure they just "get in", but they could also easily jump into 2nd spot themselves. They're only 1 point back of 3rd place Prince George with 2 games in hand, and a win tonight vs Merritt would put them 7 points back with 3 games in hand. They win those games in hand, and no matter what Merritt does, it's just a 1 point deficit to overcome. However, that is a lot of "ifs" and the Chiefs will have to get back on the role they were in during late November/early December to make that happen.
-while the Centennials got the game-winning goal from their new acquisition, Carter Shinkaruk yesterday, the Chiefs also debuted a couple of new pieces... secondary scorer Kody Dhaliwal who went from Salmon Arm to Flin Flon of the SJHL, and then to Chilliwack at the trading deadline to rejoin Harvey Smyl, who he played for in Langley last year. Dhaliwal recorded an assist in his Chilliwack debut. Also, the Chiefs have swapped dmen, sending Mike Berry to Salmon Arm, and bringing in towering blueliner Anderson White (6'4, 220lbs) from Des Moines of the USHL. White suited up for Quesnel last year, so he's now back to the same franchise that moved to Chilliwack.
-much like against Vernon, this season series between Merritt and Chilliwack has been very tight-checking and close, and this is a game that you can likely again expect to go right down to the wire. Though unlike Vernon, and unlike any other team in the Interior Conference, if the first 4 games are any indication, this will be a "mellow" game. These two teams are only 2 hours apart and battling each other for 2nd in the conference, but there has been very little in the way of emotion/physicality in the season series so far. It's almost as if they have a mutual respect for each other and sticking to purely business. This is the 5th meeting, so you would think it has to heat up eventually. Only time will tell I guess.
-Lino Chimienti is pencilled in to get his 5th consecutive start after coming off his 2nd shutout in 2 weeks, though Luke Pierce might throw a curveball and go back to Tyler Steel in this back to back. If not, you can almost certainly expect Tyler to get the call tomorrow afternoon against Langley. He hasn't seen action since getting pulled in the first game after the Christmas break, a 6-5 overtime loss to Westside. Since then, Lino has picked up 4 straight wins, 2 of them shutouts. So it's no surprise if Luke Pierce continues to play the hot hand tonight.
Here are the projected lineups for tonight:
MERRITT:
Regan Soquila (93) Chad Brears (91) Evan Stack (91)
Silvan Harper (92) Brayden Low (94) Jakob Reichert (93)
Brandon Bruce (93) Carter Shinkaruk (91)
Payton Schaefer (93) Brent Fletcher (92) Brendan Lamont (94)
Reece Willcox (94) Brandon Pfeil (92)
Richard Sabourin (92) Tyler Martin (93)
Billy Marshall (91) Ross Mancuso (92)
Dylan Chanter (95)
Lino Chimienti (91)
Tyler Steel (93)
SCRATCHES:
Sean Maktaak (92) INJ
CHILLIWACK:
Trevor Hills (92) Garrett Forster (95) Michael Spring (91)
Kit Sitterley (91) Derek Huisman (92) Malcolm Gould (92)
Jeremy Gossard (93) Spencer Graboski (93) Mathieu Tibbet (93)
David Bondra (92) Kody Dhaliwal (91) Josh Hansen (92)
Shay Laurent (93) Matthew Hutchinson (91)
Robert Jang (93)- AP David Thompson (92)
Anderson White (91) Alex Perron-Fontaine (92)
Mitch Gillam (92)
Bryton Udy (93)
SCRATCHES:
Tyler Miller (91)
Jaret Babych (94)
Opening face-off tonight is at 7:30 from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Pre-game show begins at 7:00 on Q101 FM in Merritt and online at Q101.ca
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