LAST GAME: 7-2 win over Trail last night (4th straight victory)
Penticton: 47-3-0-2 (96pts) - 1st in Interior (29pts up on 2nd place Merritt with 2 games in hand)
LAST GAME: 4-2 win over Trail on Thursday (35th straight victory)
Season Series: Merritt 1-4-0-1 (outscored by Penticton 30-10)
*Last meeting was exactly a month ago on Jan. 25, a 9-0 Penticton victory
*Merritt is still the last team to beat Penticton way back on Nov. 5, a 3-2 OT win. They are the only team this season to beat Penticton in their own building (or even earn a single point), and including a 5-4 OT loss at the SOEC, the Centennials are also the only team in the league who have taken 3 points from Penticton
- on paper, nobody can deny that this game looks like another huge mismatch (just like every game Penticton has played against anybody this season). Don't kid yourselves, the game for the Cents vs the Vees won't be any easier than it was for any other team they've victimized on their inhumane run they've gone on. The task looks daunting at first glance, but there are a couple of factors to look at for the optimists that would indicate Merritt's got a good shot here:
- Look at the home record for Merritt (17-5-0-4) vs the road record for Penticton (22-3-0-1). Obviously the Vees sport the better record, but the Cents have just 5 regulation losses at home all season, while the Vees have 3. However, take away the 2 regulation losses to Penticton at the NVMA (4-1 and 9-0), and the Centennials have an identical 3 regulation losses in this sort of set-up. And of course, playing in their small, cozy barn gives them an advantage over the high-flying vees who are used to the open ice at the SOEC
- Look at the last 4 games; obviously both teams have been perfect, but Merritt has been even more perfect. They have outscored their opposition 26-5 (Vernon, Coquitlam, Chilliwack were no slouches either), while Penticton has outscored their opposition during this time span 21-12. And their opposition wasn't much tougher. In fact, they were all the non-playoff teams in the Interior (Westside, Vernon, Salmon Arm and Trail, collectively ranked 5th through 8th). That's not to say Penticton has played poorly, and 21-12 is still a dominant "Goals For vs. Goals Against" mark through 4 games, but the Vees are used to better, and Merritt has outright been better. So you could make an argument for just who is the hotter team tonight ;)
- there's never a "good" time to play the Vees, but for Merritt, this is definitely the best time they will ever get, full of confidence riding a 4 game win streak (opposite from the last meeting where they came in after faltering on the Island losing 2 of 3 games)
- for the most part, the Cents are rolling on all cylinders right now, with team confidence and individual confidence throughout the lineup, with the exception of the 4th line. Despite their hard work, they can't buy a goal right now, and haven't scored in over a month. Brendan Lamont is on a 9 game pointless drought, Brayden Low is on a 13 game drought, and Payton Schaefer is pointless in 17 games. As tough as it's going to be, tonight would be an ideal night for these guys to chip in, because the Cents will need all the offense they can get
- the Cents are in need of a near flawless game, where everything has to go right. They have to be very disciplined against the top power play in the league, they can't have many turnovers, and can't have any lulls, because one lull could be the difference at the end of the night. They also need elite goaltending from Tyler Steel, who is celebrating his 19th birthday today, and would love nothing more than to take down Penticton and celebrate "legally"
- one of the toughest tasks for Merritt tonight, especially in the 1st period, will be to adjust to the pace of the game that the Vees will surely try and establish. Merritt is going from the last place team in the league to the best team possibly in BCHL history (a 69 point jump in their competition), and they might get burned in the 1st period if they can't manage to keep up and adapt to the big difference in skill
- Penticton is not only the best team in the league, they are tops in pretty much every major category: goals for, goals against, power play, penalty kill, 2 goals back of Powell River for the most shorthanded goals (14 vs 16), and their goaltender Michael Garteig leads the league in GAA and SV% for starting netminders
- the Vees have long surpassed the record for most consecutive wins which the New West Royals set back in 1989/90 with 29, but now they're after the Royals record of 38 straight games going undefeated, so that's the record that Merritt will get a chance to snap. Meanwhile the Vees will be motivated simply by keeping their streak alive, surpassing the 38 game undefeated mark, and trying to run the table in their final 8 games, which a lot of people have predicted they will do. The Cents will try and prove those people wrong tonight!
Opening face-off tonight is at 7:30pm from the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. Our pre-game show gets going at 7 o'clock. You can tune in on Q101 FM in Merritt, online at Q101.ca or on the BCHL fanzone through bchl.ca
Here are the projected lineups for both Merritt and Penticton, with Dylan Chanter drawing back into the lineup in favour of Ross Mancuso, and Tyler Steel getting the nod between the pipes:
MERRITT:
Regan Soquila (93) Chad Brears (91) Evan Stack (9)
Silvan Harper (92) Brent Fletcher (92) Jakob Reichert (93)
Carter Shinkaruk (91) Brandon Bruce (93) Sean Maktaak (92)
Payton Schaefer (93) Brayden Low (94) Brendan Lamont (94)
Reece Willcox (94) Brandon Pfeil (92)
Richard Sabourin (92) Dylan Chanter (95)
Billy Marshall (91) Tyler Martin (93)
Tyler Steel (93)
Lino Chimienti (91)
SCRATCHES:
Ross Mancuso (92)
PENTICTON:
Mario Lucia (93) Travis St.Denis (92) Connor Reilly (91)
Joey Benik (92) Steven Fogarty (93) Bryce Gervais (92)
Logan Johnston (91) Ryan Reilly (91) Wade Murphy (93)
Curtis Loik (93) Cody DePourcq (95) Grant Nicholson (93)
Mike Reilly (93) Troy Stecher (94)
Nick Buchanan (91) Zach Urban (93)
Chad Bannor (92) DJ Jones (92)
Michael Garteig (91)
Chad Katunar (93)
SCRATCHES:
Kyle Beaulieu (91) - INJ
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