Cents Come Up Just Short in Game 3

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

It's funny how things work out sometimes. After relying mainly on their goaltender in game 2 and winning, the Merritt Centennials came up with their most complete, impressive effort of the series in game 3 at home but lost a 3-2 nailbiter to go down 2-1 in the best-of-sever Interior Conference Final.

There's no denying it, the first period was a nightmare start for Merritt. Not because they played poorly or were scrambling in their own zone, but because the Vees got 2 goals in 16 seconds out of the blue to open up a 2-0 lead.

16-year-old Cody Depourcq, who had a coming out party tonight, started the charge at 2:45 with incredible determination to maintain the puck, circle the goal, and get a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle that fooled Steel, who appeared off his angle, and wound up going far glove side.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

Without a replay, it was hard to tell, but the puck appeared to bounce strangely, so it might have deflected off a Merritt player in front, and could have just been a matter of bad luck. Nevertheless, the Vees opened the scoring for the 3rd consecutive time in this series, and all 3 times it was within the first 3 and a half minutes. A very concerning trend for Merritt.

And just 16 seconds later, at 3:01, the Vees broke back in and scored a similar goal as their 2nd one on Wednesday (8 seconds after Merritt had made it 4-1)... Travis St. Denis' shot was stopped, Lucia was stopped on the rebound, but Murphy followed up with a wide open net backhander that gave the Vees a 2-0 lead, and it looked like they were off and running.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

The Centennials called a time-out after the 2nd goal and continued to play inspired in front of the packed house. Ross Mancuso cut off a clearing attempt at the right point and fired a shot from the blueline through a screen that beat Katunar high blocker side and gave the Cents life less than 3 minutes after they had gone down 2-0.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

From this point, I thought the Centennials really took over the 1st period. They had control of the puck in the Penticton zone for much of the time, however despite their cycling and good pressure, it didn't lead to many shots (only 7 total through the first 20 minutes). But they kept pushing until they pushed through. Another determined shift by the 2nd line led to the equalizer; after Harper and Reichert both had their shots blocked from the right circle, Fletcher (who might be the most consistent Centennial in the playoffs and now had 3 goals and 6 points in 7 games) followed up from the slot and beat Katunar (who was out of position) on a half-open net to tie the game at 2, with a minute and a half left in the 1st period.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

The Cents had a chance to really take the game over, when just seconds after their equalizer, they were given a power play and a chance to take the lead. They didn't score in the first and couldn't score with the 35 seconds they had left to start the 2nd period. And that turned out to the biggest momentum shift of the game in Penticton's favour. But it was 2-2 after the 1st period.

Early 2nd period, after Penticton killed off the rest of Logan Johnston's cross-checking penalty, he would reward them. Right out of the box, Johnston stole the puck in his own zone and led a rush into Merritt's end, which ended with a nifty give-and-go with Lucia, where Lucia centered from behind the net to the top of the crease for Johnston; the Penticton captain (who had a breakout game of his own) was able to tip it high blocker side past Steel to give the Vees their lead back at 3-2. And obviously, Penticton would never look back.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

The remainder of the 2nd period was very fun to watch, as both teams came at each other hard, traded chances and traded hits, but stayed clean and competitive without too much chippiness. It was hockey the way it was meant to be played, and I'm sure the fans appreciated it. The shots were dead even in the 2nd at 10-10, and very reflective of how the game went. Tyler Steel still faced the better quality chances against him, and he really stood tall the rest of the way to give the Cents a chance to tie the game. But it stayed 3-2 Penticton after 40 minutes.

The 3rd period carried over where the 2nd period left off. You could tell the Vees were slowly going into shutdown mode, but the Centennials tried hard to initiate some flow to the game, and although there wasn't as much in the 3rd as the 1st or 2nd, it was still there. The Cents pushed hard for the equalizer but were stifled by the Vees team defense, which included blocking a lot of shots, breaking up a lot of plays and clearing away any 2nd chances that came from Katunar's rebounds. Even though Katunar fought the puck again at times, his team shielded him very well, and it made for a very effective and frustrating game of clock management that the Cents just couldn't overcome.

Tyler Steel was especially sharp in this frame, making some very underrated saves to allow the Centennials at least a chance to find the equalizer. Even though his stats vs Penticton will take a bit of a hit with 3 goals on 26 shots, that doesn't tell the story of his efforts in game 3, though granted they weren't as heroic as game 2.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

Merritt never gave up and came really close on a couple occasions, particularly with 1 minute left on a scramble, where the 1st line appeared poised to tie it. But Katunar deserves credit for making the big save, and for making at least all the "first shot" saves the rest of the game. It was a team effort to get the job done.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

After Merritt pulled the goalie, Wade Murphy hit the cross bar on open net from the Merritt blueline with 10 seconds left (just like Soquila in game 2, also with 10 seconds left), but the Cents just ran out of time. Just like with Penticton in game 2, it seemed like a couple extra minutes could make the difference for the trailing team, but the Vees deserve credit for locking it down and deciding that a 3-2 win was just as valuable as a 6-2 win.

The Centennials showed good discipline all night, taking only 2 minor penalties, as did Penticton with 3 minor penalties (2 of them by captain Logan Johnston). Merritt's power play definitely had a chance to win or at least tie the game for them, but today it let them down going 0 for 3 and in crucial times of the game. Meanwhile the Vees deserve credit for an aggressive penalty kill and a commitment to help out Katunar in any way they could. But overall, it was nice to see that we could have a physical game where the 2 referees allowed the teams to just "play" and decide it themselves.

(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

The shots finished dead even at 26 apiece, and again I can say that was very reflective of how the game was played. All 3 periods the two teams were very evenly matched, and the Centennials went stride for stride and punch for punch all night with the Vees, which is a huge compliment considering Penticton has 3 NHL draft picks and 16 scholarships (granted only 14 of those were on the ice minus Michael Garteig and Connor Reilly). Honestly, this is one of those games that was destined to go to overtime, as neither team deserved to lose with their efforts. But it just wasn't mean to be.

The Centennials played tonight in front of a near-capacity crowd of 1050 passionate fans (about 50 of those, mind you, were the Vees fan bus, which contributed to a great atmosphere at the tiny NVMA). The crowd though was the biggest since the magical playoff run of 2001, and the first time since 2001 that Merritt packed in more than a thousand fans for a single game. Thanks to everybody who came out for the support, it was honestly spine-tingling and bone-chilling to be a part of that atmosphere! I can't wait to do it all again Saturday night for game 4!

SO WHERE WERE ALL THESE TOWELS HANDED OUT IN GAME 1?!    (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)

Here were my 3 stars from the broadcast:

1) Logan Johnston- 1G
2) Brent Fletcher- 1G
3) Tyler Steel- 23 saves

Here are the audio highlights from an exciting game 3 in Merritt with a disappointing end result:

Penticton @ Merritt Round 2 Game 3 Highlights by agreb21