LINO CHIMIENTI WAS PEPPERED ALL NIGHT (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
There was a lot of buzz around the Nicola Valley coming into game 1 of the Interior Conference Finals. Not just the Valley, but across the BCHL, where everyone waited anxiously to see just how much magic this underdog team from Merritt had in them. Unfortunately, game 1 was a bit of a humbling for the Cinderella side, as the heavily favoured Penticton Vees pushed all the right buttons in a 5-0 victory.
The first period didn't see a whole lot of action either way, with the shots just 8-4 in favour of Penticton. As the 4 games at the SOEC in the regular season proved, you can't take early penalties against the Vees, yet that's exactly what happened. A bit of a strange interference call on Brent Fletcher led to the Vees opening the scoring 3 and a half minutes in, when Mario Lucia, cutting down the right wing, made an impressive inside out move around the defense, cut into the slot and snapped a shot low right through Chimienti. That unassisted effort was just the start of a phenomenal night for Lucia, and brought the electric crowd at the SOEC to life.
Shortly after the Lucia goal, Payton Schaefer had a great chance to equalize; after a big hit by Dylan Chanter at center jarred the puck loose, Schaefer picked it up and broke down the right wing on a partial break, but his backhander went off of Katunar's shoulder and deflected over top of the goal.
(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
Merritt wouldn't really get any other quality scoring chances in the first period. Chimienti made some solid stops to keep it a 1 goal game, and it went into the intermission with the Vees up 1.
The 2nd period is where it all slipped away for Merritt. Early on, they received an extensive 2 man advantage for well over a minute, but they had some real issues even getting set up, let alone generating a scoring chance or even a shot. The vees PK was extremely aggressive, and even had 2 shorthanded chances throughout the 2 and 1 man disadvantage. They killed it off with ease, and this was the turning point.
ONE OF FEW CHANCES MERRITT HAD ALL NIGHT (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
With the Vees feeling good about themselves, they received a quick power play right after their big kill, and it was Lucia again; with Soquila and Brears caught up-ice, Stetcher led a 4 on 2 rush into the Merritt zone and centered for Lucia, who's shot from the right circle appeared to go off a Merritt skate and through the legs of Chimienti to make it a 2-0 game and really demoralize the Centennials.
(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
The Vees came on really strong in this period and were relentless on their attack, which led to an opening of the flood-gates in their favour. Just past the 12 minute mark, after Brandon Pfeil got caught trying to make a pinch in the offensive zone, Joey Benik broke in down the left wing on a 2 on 1 and set up Bryce Gervais with a wide open net to extend the lead to 3-0.
Less then 2 minutes later, Lucia would wrap up his hat-trick on a perfect centering pass from Wade Murphy (who was a great set-up man all night) to make it 4-0, and take away any doubt as to who was going to take game 1.
The 4th goal was the end of the night for Chimienti, who was the scapegoat in a game where he didn't deserve it. He had next to no chance on any of the goals, and didn't receive much help from his teammates. Tyler Steel came in to replace Lino, looking to give the team a spark, but it didn't work. After a remarkable point blank save on the 1st or 2nd shot he faced (off of Benik, again set up by Murphy), the Vees would score again moments later, when Wade Murphy again feathered a perfect centering pass from the right corner, on the tape of Loik in the crease, who tipped it past Steel to make it 5-0.
THE LOOK FROM MAKTAAK SUMS UP THE NIGHT (Synergy Imaging/Fraser Rodgers "The Three V's" blog)
The last 3 goals were scored in near identical fashion. 4 goals in 12 minutes, and that was pretty much the storyline, as the Centennials went into the intermission down 5.
In the 3rd period, the Cents were clearly deflated and demoralized, and simply didn't have too much left in them to try and mount a comeback. There was only one real chance that stood out, and that was a similar rush to Schaefer's in the 1st by Brendan Lamont, who raced down the right wing with a nice snap shot, but was denied by the right pad of Katunar (the 4th line was arguably the most noticeable all night for Merritt, and that's typically not a good sign of how the night is going).
Chad Katunar was good, but on just 20 shots, he never had to be great, and really wasn't tested much at all in game 1. The amount of scoring chances Merritt had in this game could be counted on one hand, as they never really got any offensive momentum going. Now Katunar's confidence is sky-high, coming off his 2nd straight playoff shutout.
HE'S NOT THE MOST ORTHODOX GOALIE, BUT HE GETS THE JOB DONE (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
Tyler Steel looked very sharp the rest of the way, stopping all 10 shots he saw in the 3rd (11 of 12 total), and preventing any further damage. But the 3rd period was just a formality, and both teams played like it for the most part.
(Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
Penticton did have 2 more power plays in the 3rd and put out some of their secondary guys out there, but they couldn't beat Tyler Steel. Discipline certainly played a factor in game 1, as the Cents lost their cool and played a bit frustrated, going down a total of 7 times. To their credit, after the Vees scored twice on their first 3 power plays, Merritt killed off 4 in a row. But they definitely can't play like that the rest of the series if they want any chance of coming out on top.
ONE OF FEW THINGS THAT WENT RIGHT FOR MERRITT: LOW VS NICHOLSON (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
SCARY MOMENT FOR CHANTER LATE IN THE GAME; HE'D BE OKAY (Ian Webster/Merritt Herald)
The 3 stars of this game, both on my broadcast, and in the rink were:
1) Mario Lucia- 3G
2) Wade Murphy- 2A
3) Chad Katunar- 20 saves, shutout
Here are the high/low-lights from a forgettable game 1 in Penticton:
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