Halcrow Steals the Show, Vipers Extend Merritt's Losing Streak to 4

After a week off, fatigue was certainly not an issue. The Cents fired 41 shots towards the Vipers net, but goaltender Kirby Halcrow handled all of them for his first shutout of the season, and the Centennials slump lives on with 4 straight losses, and 5 in their last 6:

• the 1st period was one that could have gone either way... both teams exchanged a fair amount of scoring chances and the period was evenly played... the difference was simply finish

• while Kirby Halcrow looked strong and confident from the outset, Chimienti seemed to battle nerves coming off a game where he got blasted for 9 goals vs Penticton. He fought the puck quite a bit, giving up many rebounds and losing the puck around his crease. It's hard to blame him on any of the goals, but he did have to battle a lot harder than normal tonight. Kirby Halcrow was able to make a difference in the 1st, allowing his team to take the lead

• the 1st goal was a strange play where John Knisley knocked down a puck in the slow that was high in mid-air, played it down to his stick, and buried it from the bottom of the left circle past a startled Chimienti. The 2nd goal was on a dominant-looking Vernon power play. It was actually a great save by Lino off a point shot deflection, but the rebound came to Tambellini for a wide open net. No goalie in the world would have made that save

• this was Merritt's 4th straight game without a 1st period goal, and 7th time in 8 games (only exception was the Mancuso buzzer beater in Victoria with 3 seconds left)

• the 2nd period was a fast-flowing one as well, with both teams pushing each other hard, but the goaltenders held the door shut. Halcrow was again the story making 13 saves... the pivotal point of the game was late in the 2nd, when the Cents had a shorthanded 2 on 1 (Fletcher and Stack)... Fletcher's low shot from the right wing created a wide open net rebound for Stack, who fanned on the shot, and on his follow through, actually managed to swipe the puck away that was fluttering towards the open net. This was the kind of night it was, and it was almost a signal that this was not their night

• Merritt looked a lot better on the power play in the 2nd frame, but their 2 best chances (Stack and Soquila point blank, back to back) were both denied by Halcrow who was simply "on" tonight and appeared, fittingly, unbeatable

• the 3rd period saw the parade to the penalty box continue, and the Centennials lack of discipline wound up hurting them. Payton Schaefer got a cross-checking penalty in the first couple of minutes, and it took the Vipers less than half a minute for Mike Zalewski to capitalize, getting one past a screened Chimienti from the top of the left face-off circle, which was followed up by the Jaromir Jagr salute. That was the unofficial dagger in the heart, but the official one came just 4 minutes later when AP call-up Eric Shore set up Jedd Soleway on top of the crease to make it 4-0, and the Cents just didn't have enough fight left in them after that

• Merritt would wind up getting one last dying chance when, with inside 9 minutes left, the Vipers took 2 back to back penalties on the same play to go down 5 on 3 for a full 2 minutes. But the Centennials looked confused, disorganized, and lacked the confidence to set up any sort of scoring chance. I believe they finished with just 1 soft shot on the entire 2 minutes. It didn't help that the line brawl which previewed the 2 man advantage saw the ejection of both Evan Stack and Regan Soquila, who were obviously unavailable for this power play. After this power play was killed, the Vipers fans gave their team a standing ovation, and the rest, as they say, is history

*outside of the obvious difference in goaltending, special teams was a big deciding factor, with Merritt going 0 for 7 on the power play and the Vipers going 2 for 6. Their first goal was shortly after their power play had expired, so it was almost 3 for 6. The Centennials had a chance to win the game on special teams, but faltered in the 1st period where Vernon succeeded. Combine that with untimely/undisciplined penalties, and that was much of the game story

*it's tough to be critical of a team that outshot the Snakes in their own building 41-29, but the Centennials are clearly lacking the "finishers" needed to make a difference and are not as sharp defensively as they need to be to keep the goals against down.

*with the result of this game, the Centennials remain 11 games above .500, but have now given up more goals against (143) than they've scored (142)

Here are the audio high and lowlights from tonight's game:

Merritt @ Vernon Feb 3 Highlights by agreb21