Centennials Derail the Express 8-0

Since I didn't have a way to grab actual pictures from the game, here's the figurative version of what happened

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better than Tuesday night vs Vernon, the Cents went on the road and one-upped themselves with their biggest offensive output, and most dominant win of the season in Coquitlam:

• to anyone that just saw the scoreboard and didn't listen to the game or read the boxscore, you might think that this was Merritt's most dominant game of the season. Well results wise, yes, but to the trained eye, it was merely a continuation of what is known as the "law of average". After an unbelievable amount of bad luck during the 6 game losing skid, the last 2 games have seen the hockey gods return the favour to Merritt

• the 1st period was far from lopsided. In fact, the first half was a back and forth, wide open affair, that would normally favour the offensive-minded Express. Both teams had momentum minutes with a flury of shots, but the goaltenders were strong, particularly Tyler Steel, who was tested with tougher shots than Khaleed Devji to start

• after the pace of the game slowed down a bit in the 2nd half of the first with a few more whistles and calm play, the Centennials thought they had scored when Dylan Chanter threw a puck on net from the right point that went off the inside of the post. The goal judge put the light on, but the referee signaled no goal. Evan Stack came out to argue as soon as he could, but to no avail

• after Stack's argument went on deaf ears and he went back to the bench, the star line from Tuesday went at it again. Brandon Bruce won the face-off forward to Sean Maktaak, and Maktaak made a crisp centering pass from the right corner into the slot for Shinkaruk, who one-timed a perfect shot high over the left shoulder of Devji to open the scoring. It was his 2nd goal in as many games after a 10 game pointless drought. And it was the ony goal of the 1st period, a relatively even frame which saw the Cents outshoot Coquitlam 12-9

• the 2nd period saw Merritt come out determined and clearly more confident from the 1st period lead. In the first minute, they took advantage of a Coquitlam turnover in the offensize zone, and the first line rushed the puck the other way. Stack made a nice cross-ice pass to Brears, who's shot from the top of the left circle was tipped en-route by Soquila, past the glove of Devji to make it 2-0 Merritt

• after the 2-0 goal, the Cents were on their heels for a little bit, and Tyler Steel had to be extremely sharp, making a few terrific saves, especially one memorable one off of Bourne point blank. After a terrific practice in the morning, he was clearly on his game all night long and looked steady as a rock between the pipes

• then late in the 2nd period, the Cents used Steel's heroics to their advantage and rewarded him. After a nice face-off win by Brears, Pfeil threw the puck on net from the right point, which created a mad scramble, and after Soquila and Brears both missed their chance to bury the pinballing puck, Evan Stack came in and slammed it home to make it 3-0... a very decisive and timely goal for Merritt to really take control. As if that wasn't enough, 37 seconds later, Jakob Reichert walked out from the left halfwall right into the slot and wristed one through the legs of Devji (snapping a 10 game pointless drought) with 30 seconds left in the period to make it 4-0 through 40 minutes

• the start of the 3rd period saw the Cents on their heels quite a bit in the first 3 or 4 minutes, pinned in their own zone and without a shot on goal of their own. A lot of this was due to critical defensize zone turnovers, which were a little too frequent on this night, but never proved costly. For a while, it looked like the Cents would rest on their laurels and leave their foot off the gas pedal

• suddenly, Tyler Martin made a play to bank the puck off the glass out of his own zone, which resulted in a great rush by Stack, powering his way with speed around the defenseman and cutting in on goal... he appeared to bump the goaltender, his original shot was stopped, but it either trickled through off the save or was followed up on by Stack, before Soquila came to jam at the puck. It looked like Soquila got the goal, but it was credited to Stack, which means it must have crossed the goal line before Soquila touched it. This goal was appealed by the Express, but also to no avail, and took any and all life out of their sails, allowing the Cents to feast into the night. The assist by Martin snapped an 11 game pointless drought

• after a bad rebound given up by Devji off a long point shot, Reichert was able to get his 2nd of the game to make the score 6-0, and finally end the night for Khaleed Devji, who was replaced between the pipes by the Express shining star this season, Cole Huggins

• the night for Huggins didn't go so well either. With the Express on a power play, a lazy play at the blueline allowed Billy Marshall to steal and walk in on a clear cut breakaway from center, where he made a nice deke and fired one through Huggins' legs to make it 7-0, only the 2nd shorthanded goal of the season for Merritt. It also snapped a 7 game pointless drought and 17 game goalless drought for Marshall, who was the offensive leader from the blueline earlier this season

• after some intense pressure in the Coquitlam zone and a nifty deke by Marshall that started a scramble, the hero from Tuesday, Brandon Bruce, was able to bury a rebound of his own to cap off the scoring at 8-0, the most goals Merritt has scored in a single game this season, and their most lop-sided win in years

• even though the game was out of reach, things got chippy near the end, and the Centennials were forced to kill a penalty with 1:57 remaining... with his shutout in jeopardy, Tyler Steel once again stood tall until the Express took themselves off the power play in the last minute. And even then, in the 4 on 4, he was forced to make one more outstanding save, on a perfect tip by Kerfoot that was going high glove side, before Steel snared it with his catcher to put an exclamation mark on his 3rd shutout of the season

*The Centennials were a little guilty of turning the puck over a few too many times, but it was a 2 way street. Tyler Steel bailed them out on a number of occasions, but the Centennials also blocked a lot of shots and broke up some pretty good scoring chances as well. So overall, it was a team effort defensively, to hold the 2nd highest scoring team in the league off the scoreboard

*With a perfect 5 for 5 night on the PK, the Cents are now a perfect 12 for 12 on the PK in their last 3 games, while the power play continues to struggled, going 0 for 8 in the last 2 games, and 1 for 22 over the last 5 games

*I think it's worth noting that tonight's game wasn't entirely different from the recent losses in Vernon and Westside. In fact, the Centennials had a bigger edge on the shot clock in those games and just as much, if not more quality scoring chances. The difference is that they had next to no confidence back then, couldn't buy a break, and couldn't finish. Tonight, they were riding a wave of confidence, again got the breaks, and for the 2nd straight game found the "finishing touch" that they couldn't for most of the season

*The 2 goals on the night give Evan Stack the team lead with 25, two ahead of linemate Chad Brears

I know it's late in the blog process, but I decided, what the heck, I'll copy some other broadcasters and throw out my 3 stars from the broadcast at the tail end of each game and put them on my blog. Here are the stars from tonight, which were very difficult to pick with plenty of standouts for Merritt:

1) Tyler Steel - 31 saves on 31 shots
2) Evan Stack  - 2 goals, 1 assist
3) Billy Marshall - officially 1 goal and 1 assist, but his assist was actually Martin's

Here are the highlights from Merritt's "biggest" win of the season, and most lopsided win in years, followed by Coach Luke Pierce's comments on the post-game show:

Merritt @ Coquitlam Feb 17 Highlights by agreb21

Luke pierce post-game interview feb 17-12 by agreb21

***With a Vernon and Chilliwack loss tonight, Merritt has almost certainly secured a playoff spot (still very unofficial, but it looks unlikely that they'll miss), and with the Spruce Kings holding a 6 point lead on Chilliwack (though the Chiefs have 1 game in hand), a win Saturday vs Chilliwack for Merritt would all but surely guarantee them a 1st round matchup with Prince George, with the only question left to be determined being who gets home ice? However, if Chilliwack beats Merritt Saturday, then suddenly the plot thickens