Preview: Westside @ Merritt

Merritt: 24-10-2-5 (55 pts) - 2nd in Interior
LAST GAME: 3-0 win over Langley on Sunday (won 6 in a row)

Westside 14-19-1-5 (34 pts) - tied for 6th/7th with Salmon Arm (have 2 games in hand). 10 points back of a playoff spot, the 4th place Chilliwack Chiefs (Chwk has 3 games in hand)
LAST GAME: 6-3 win over Salmon Arm on Sunday (won 3 in a row)

Season Series: Officially, Merritt is 2-1-0-2, but without the one game that got reversed, Merritt is 1-1-0-3 (Westside has only 3 overtime wins this season, all 3 are against Merritt, even though 1 of them was the decision that got reversed due to the Warriors having seven 91 born players still listed on their roster). It's been a tight series with Westside outscoring Merritt 21-17.

• Merritt is riding their longest winning streak in the 9 seasons the BCHL archives go back; they have found a rhythm right now and are at the point where they expect to win every game, but are still willing to do all the right things to work for it, rather than assuming things will go their way

• Lino Chimienti has 5 of the 6 wins during the streak, including 3 shutouts... he had 2 shutouts in 2 games this past week and is coming off a very fitting player of the week award. However, it appears that Luke Pierce is going back to the rotation and starting Tyler Steel tonight

• The Warriors were big sellers at the trade deadline, sending captain Izaak Berglund and young defensive prospect Michael King to the Lloydminster Bobcats of the AJHL for future considerations, as well as trading defenseman Klay Kachur to Battleford of the SJHL for Curtis Toneff. They also acquired defenseman Matthew Berry-Lamontagne from the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders. Both Toneff and Lamontagne are 18 year old defensemen

• The Warriors have been one of the most victimized teams when it comes to injuries, and this is the first time in a long time they got their offensive defeseman John Monk back, as well as secondary scorer Seb Lloyd. But at the same time, the injury merry-go-round continues, as the Warriors have now lost another secondary scorer in Brett Mckinnon and their 16 year old prospect Brennan Clark. They've also lost a couple guys to suspensions: forward Reid Simmonds and defenseman Peter MacIntosh. As a result, tonight they'll have a couple of affiliate players in the lineup: 17 year old forward Josh Ellis (27 points in 22 games with the BCMML Okanagan Rockets) and 17 year old defenseman Kirk Reeve (13 points in 33 games with the KIJHL's Kelowna Chiefs)

• for the Merritt Centennials, their lineup again doesn't change with the success they're having... Sean Maktaak remains out indefinitely with a concussion. But despite Lino being named the player of the week and getting 2 straight shutouts, Tyler Steel is penciled in as the starter tonight (this might change though, as Lino was penciled to start Saturday vs Chilliwack, but it wound up being Tyler Steel)

• this is shaping up to be a pretty good match: the Warriors have given Merritt trouble this season, and both teams come into this game on winning streaks. Merritt has outscored the opposition 22-6 in winning 6 straight, while the Warriors have outscored their opposition (Victoria and two games vs Salmon Arm) 20-5 in winning 3 straight. This will be the first time that Merritt sees the Warriors with Josh Monk in the lineup (3 assists in 5 games since returning), and I believe only the 2nd time they will see Seb Lloyd in the Warriors lineup (3 assists in 2 games since returning). Based on the season series, this might be the toughest game of the entire streak for Merritt to win, and the toughest game this week, with 3 teams out of the playoffs coming up on the island road trip this weekend

• you never want to focus too much on one or two players, but the Warriors have been stripped of their top end talent both offensively and defensively, so there are only a couple really key threats. Max French (who had 2 goals and 1 assists in the last meeting vs Merritt) has 12 goals and 17 points in 15 games since returning from injury, while leading scorer Connor Dempsey has 4 goals and 9 points in his last 4 games. A couple of others guys to key on: Marcus Basara has 6 points in his last 4, while Travis Blanleil is coming off a hat-trick and has 5 goals/6 points in his last 3 games

• Merritt has scored on the power play in 3 straight games and will try to keep that streak going by moving their feet and drawing penalties against the Warriors 14th-ranked PK

• With a significant lead in the standings on Chilliwack and Prince George for that 2nd spot, it's easy to get a little bit loose and lackadaisical, so the Cents will need to make sure they keep their commitment to team defense, and the limit the Warriors offensive opportunities. Westside averages slightly over 4 goals per game vs Merritt, and only Penticton averages more

Face-off tonight is at 7:00pm, pre-game show at 6:30pm. You can tune in live on Q101 FM in Merritt or online at Q101.ca

Here are the projected lineups for both teams:


MERRITT

Regan Soquila (93)          Chad Brears (91)            Evan Stack (91)
               
Silvan Harper (92)            Brayden Low (94)          Jakob Reichert (93)
       
                                      Brandon Bruce (93)        Carter Shinkaruk (91)
          
Payton Schaefer (93)        Brent Fletcher (92)          Brendan Lamont (94)


                            Reece Willcox (94)        Brandon Pfeil (92)
       
                           Richard Sabourin (92)        Tyler Martin (93)

                             Billy Marshall (91)        Ross Mancuso (92)


                                               Dylan Chanter (95)
 
       
                                                 Tyler Steel (93)       
 
                                               Lino Chimienti (91)


SCRATCHES:
         
Sean Maktaak (92) INJ               


WESTSIDE

Dru Morrison (92)        Shawn Hochhausen (92)      David Pope (94)
          
Travis Blanleil (94)         Connor Dempsey (92)        Seb Lloyd (94)
  
Devon Hascarl (93)        Max French (92)                Marcus Basara (93)

Josh Ellis (94) AP          Garrett Skrbich (93)            


               Mathew Berry-Lamontagna (93)        Dustin Cave(94)
       
                          Kirk Reeve (94) AP                Josh Monk (92)
  
                             Ben Betker (94)                 Curtis Toneff (93)
     
      
                                               Dwayne Rodrigue (91)           
               
                                                 James Leonard (93)       


SCRATCHES:

Brennan Clark (95)  INJ
Reid Simmonds (93) SUS
Brett McKinnon (92)  INJ
Peter MacIntosh (91)  SUS

BCHL Roundtable Episode 3

In this 3rd edition of the BCHL Roundtable, Powell River Kings Broadcaster Alex Rawnsley hosts a discussion with Nanaimo Clippers broadcaster Dan Marshall and Salmon Arm Silverbacks broadcaster Scott Campbell about the 7 BCHL'ers ranked in the NHL's Central Scouting List, including Reece Wilcox, who's ranked #114.

BCHL Roundtable Episode 3 by agreb21

NHL Central Scouting released its midterm report this week and seven BCHL players are included among the top-210 North American Skaters.

A total of 135 International Skaters were listed as well as the top-36 North American goalies.

Here is the list of BCHLers and where they were ranked.

#80: Jujhar Khaira - Prince George Spruce Kings

#81: Alexander Kerfoot - Coquitlam Express

#104: Morgan Zulinick - Salmon Arm SilverBacks

#114: Reece Willcox - Merritt Centennials

#181: Devon Toews - Surrey Eagles

#203: Paul De Jersey - Prince George Spruce Kings

#204: Wade Murphy - Victoria Grizzlies

Khaira, Kerfoot, Zulinick, Toews and Willcox are 1994-born players while Murphy was born in 1993 and De Jersey in 1992.

Last season, Victoria Grizzlies forward Joel Lowry was drafted in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Kings and Salmon Arm SilverBacks defenceman Josh Manson was chosedn in the sixth round by the Anaheim Ducks.

The link to the full list is here

It's the End of the Doyle Cup, and the Beginning of the "Western Canadian Championship"

Big news today that will affect Junior A hockey across the country (and hopefully the Merritt Centennials directly if the 3 year strategic plan works to perfection). It's been rumoured for a while, but now it's official. This will be the last season where the BCHL winner will play the AJHL winner in the "Doyle Cup". Starting next year, Nanaimo will be the first team to host the Western Canadian Championship, which will be a tournament between the winner of the BCHL, AJHL, SJHL and MJHL (the 4 Western Canadian provinces). The winner and the runner up of this tournament will then partake in the national championship, the RBC Cup. That's the long story short. But here's the official release from the CJHL with all the detailed information:
 

The Canadian Junior Hockey League is pleased to announce a new regional playoff format for its four western provinces beginning in 2013.  The British Columbia Hockey League, Alberta Junior Hockey League, Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Manitoba Junior Hockey League will move to a five-team tournament and crown the first-ever Western Canadian Champion.

The Western Canadian Championship will include a host team and the champion from each of the four western leagues. The 13-game tournament will include a round-robin schedule followed by two semifinal games and a championship game.  The Western Canadian Champion and the runner-up will both represent Western Canada at the RBC Cup National Junior A Championship.

"Congratulations to the four western leagues on this significant step in the growth of Junior A hockey in Western Canada and across the country,” said CJHL Chairman Kirk Lamb. “The new championship format will create a tremendous opportunity to showcase our players, teams and communities and is yet another example of the strengthening relationship among Junior A leagues in Canada.  I commend the four western leagues on partnering together in the development of this initiative.”

CJHL Chairman Kirk Lamb and the four western provinces are honoured to announce the hosting rights for the inaugural Western Canadian Championship in 2013 have been awarded to the BCHL community of Nanaimo, BC. The 2013 Western Canadian Championship will be held from April 26 to May 5.

“I want to congratulate Nanaimo on being selected to host the first Western Canadian Championship in 2013,” said BCHL commissioner John Grisdale. “I am extremely confident the host committee, the Clipper ownership group, their fans, the City of Nanaimo and the volunteers will work cohesively towards ensuring the championship is not only successful in Nanaimo, but the legacy left will provide a blueprint for the other Junior A leagues to follow.”

Nanaimo Clippers owner Ken Wagner is proud to bring the inaugural Western Canadian Championship to Nanaimo during a milestone season for the franchise.

 “Hosting the Western Canadian Championship in conjunction with our 40^th anniversary is a great way for the team and community to celebrate. I believe the Nanaimo Clippers are a flagship franchise in the CJHL and it is a true honour to be selected as the host city for the first-time event. Nanaimo offers the ultimate in hospitality, beautiful scenery and a strong volunteer base, which will result in a successful experience for everyone involved.”

The Western Canadian Championship will be hosted by the BCHL in 2013, followed by the MJHL (2014), AJHL (2015), and SJHL (2016).  A Site Selection Committee will be responsible for selecting a host team annually, upon the recommendation of the host league.

About the Canadian Junior Hockey League:There are currently 10 leagues and over 130 teams competing in the Canadian Junior Hockey League.  The goal of the CJHL is to enhance and expand development and exposure for its players in order to increase the number of opportunities to further their academic and hockey careers.   The annual champion of the Canadian Junior Hockey League wins the RBC Cup.

About the RBC Cup:Since 1971, teams from across Canada have fought for the National Junior A Championship.  The RBC Cup National Junior A Championship is currently an annual tournament between the Champions of the four regions within the CJHL and the Host Club in a quest to become the National Champion."

A Perfect 2 Games Lands Lino Chimienti the BCHL Player of the Week

Congratulations to Lino Chimienti who is the first (and hopefully not the last) Centennial this season to be named the BCHL Player of the Week. Lino was flawless in a pair of 3-0 shutouts. Friday night he made 22 saves against the Vernon Vipers, and then Sunday afternoon he turned aside 34 shots vs the Langley Rivermen. Overall, Lino stopped all 56 shots he faced this weekend, and those sort of stats are too hard to ignore. He's also won 5 straight games overall and has 3 shutouts during that span.

Though if you watched the games this weekend, and probably if you ask Lino, he will admit that they were both team shutouts. Everybody showed a commitment to defense, sacrificing their body, breaking up plays, backchecking, and going a perfect 11 for 11 on the penalty kill.

It's very fitting that the Centennials get a player of the week award after setting a decade-best 6 game winning streak. But congratulations again to Lino Chimienti, who is definitely at the peak of his junior career right now. Here is the link to the official release from the BCHL:

http://www.bchl.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=1413&leagueID=2393&page=58442

Lino Leads the Cents Again, Win Streak Up to a Decade-Best 6 Games!

The Merritt Centennials are showing no signs of slowing down after wrapping up a perfect 3-game weekend against the Langley Rivermen. Lino Chimienti continued his remarkable run of late by picking up his 3rd shutout in 5 games, and league-leading 4th shutout of the season. Lino has also won 5 straight games, and with the addition of Tyler Steel's victory vs Chilliwack on Saturday, the Centennials have now run their win streak to 6 games, which, although might not seem "astronomical", is the longest win streak in recent history. I literally manually scanned every season before I came here for 2008/2009, and there were a couple of 5 game win streaks, but not one that went to 6 games dating back to the 2003/2004 season, which is as far as the BCHL archive will allow me to go. So it's definitely the first streak of its kind in at least 9 years, potentially much longer. Definitely something to be extremely proud of, but at the same time, it also puts things in perspective for how bad things have been; I stumbled upon a game in the dominant 05/06 season where Merritt, on home ice, still lost 10-0 to Penticton, and got outshot 57-10... they got as many shots as Penticton had goals... I'm not going to lie, it made me cringe. But I digress... back to the game at hand...

• Merritt was once again the better, hungrier team throughout the game. Granted, they didn't seem to have as much fire as they had vs Vernon or Chilliwack (outshot 34-30), but that's understandable considering it was their 3rd game in 2 and a half days (as it was for Langley) and considering that there was no rivalry or built-up hatred for the Langley Rivermen. 

• the 1st period was one that didn't have much of a flow or pace to it, especially for the first half. It was a feeling out process both ways, plenty of icings and offsides from unforced errors, and lots of weak shots that were easily frozen by the two goalies for even more whistles. It was somewhat of a fragmented period with off and on spurts both ways, but very few quality scoring chances. It was a solid warm-up for both goaltenders, though Jim Kruger (who I once called Chad Kroeger, true story) had the more difficult shots to contend with, and looked quite strong coming off Friday's game where he gave up 9 in Penticton. 

• in the 2nd period, the Cents got off to a great start on a power play that carried over from the first. Though it's usually tough to open a new period with the man advantage, the Cents moved into the Langley zone with ease and set up... Jakob Reichert must have held the puck himself for a solid 10 seconds or so, working his way between the left corner and the halfboards... finally, since he didn't seem a passing option he liked, he walked out to the top of the left circle, and fired a shot far, glove side on Kruger who was deep in his net and couldn't react in time. That opened the scoring and broke the game open, as it finally got a bit of flow

• 4 and a half minutes later, Brandon Pfeil broke up a Langley rush at center, and broke in on a 2 on 1 with Brayden Low... he fed low across the line on the left wing, Low gave it right back to Pfeil who looked like Pavel Bure flying down the right wing before he sniped a shot high over Kruger's shoulder, glove side, to give Merritt a 2-0 lead

• Centennials really took over the game I thought in the 2nd period, even though the shots favoured Langley slightly by an 11-9 margin. They had numerous shifts in the offensive zone with sustained pressure, even though they didn't always wind up with shots, or at least shots that got through. Despite the shots favouring Langley, the rink was tilted to their end of the ice, as they spent much of the 2nd pinned behind their own blueline

• the 3rd period was one where you could sense the next goal would be crucial, and both teams pushed pretty hard for it. The goaltenders continued to look strong. Lino Chimienti was clearly playing with a sense of confidence he probably hasn't had his entire career. He's controlling rebounds very well, smothering pucks when he has to, and getting more comfortable playing the puck in front and behind his net. 

• Jim Kruger did everything he could to keep his team in the game as well, but unfortunately for him, received no offensive support. Eventually, the Cents were just too much and wanted the next goal more than Langley did... or so it seemed

• With Merritt's top line buzzing, Evan Stack made a great cross-crease pass for Chad Brears, but Brears mis-handled it on what could have been an open net. However, he stuck with the play, centered for Soquila who's spin-around backhanded was stopped, but Stack pounced on the rebound and buried it into an open net to seal the game for Merritt making it 3-0. It was the easiest of the 3 goals for the Cents, but Stack was rewarded for an outstanding game. He looked possessed in this game, creating opportunities for himself on almost every shift. He had lots of speed and plenty of shots, and his compete level was second to none

• Merritt again had all 4 lines rolling this afternoon... every line had extended shifts in the offensive zone and created good scoring opportunities, and the ice time was spread out very evenly to accommodate everyone fairly.  I think there is no question that Brent Fletcher has made a huge difference on the 4th line since coming to center Schaefer and Lamont. As Luke Pierce indicated before the game, he has brought both Schaefer and Lamont out of their shell and allowed them to emerge into their potential. Meanwhile Brayden Low has fit like a glove on the 2nd line with Harper and Reichert. I don't foresee any changes any time soon.

• Merritt's power play looked very solid on both of their chances and finished 1 for 2... 3rd straight game they scored on the PP. Meanwhile the PK only had to kill off one Langley power play, and they did that... now Merritt has killed off 50 of the last 55 opposition power plays. Nobody in the league can match that kind of run on the penalty kill. CHECK THIS OUT: It was literally only 1 month ago (keep in mind there was a week and a half with no games during the Christmas break) that Merritt's power play and penalty kill was 2nd last, both 15th in the league. Fast forward only 3 weeks of actual games played, and the power play has moved into the top half, now sitting 7th, while the Penalty Kill is right in the middle sitting 8th. WHAT A TURNAROUND!

• One last note on the goaltending... both Lino and Tyler had a rough start to the season and a few off games here and there, but it's been a remarkable turnaround for both of them. Lino has a few more games played and a few more wins, but their stats are eerily similar. Chimienti has a 2.74 GAA and a .908 SV%, meanwhile Steel has a 2.77 GAA and a .909 SV%... literally splitting hairs. And it's nice to see, with the departure of Powell River's Jamie Phillips, Lino Chimienti now lead the league in shutouts with 4, and both Lino and Tyler in the top 10 for goals against average and save percentage. That includes backups who haven't played in as many games.

The Centennials now have a couple of days off before wrapping up their 4 game home stand Wednesday vs the Westside Warriors (who have looked quite good in winning 3 straight of their own). Then they'll head on their annual island road trip (Alberni Valley Friday, Victoria Saturday, Nanaimo Sunday) before coming back to host the top team in the country, the Penticton Vees (Merritt was still the last team to beat them, a 3-2 overtime victory on Nov 5). How far can this "decade-best" streak last? Time will tell...

Here are the audio highlights from the (recent) history-making 3-0 shutout win over Langley:

Langley @ Merritt Jan 15 highlights by agreb21

PREVIEW: Langley @ Merritt

Merritt 23-10-2-5 (53 pts) - 2nd in Interior
LAST GAME: 5-1 win over Chilliwack yesterday (won 5 in a row)

Langley 13-23-1-3 (30 pts) - 8th on the Coast (tied with Alberni Valley, but played 2 more games)
LAST GAME: 5-4 OT loss in Salmon Arm yesterday (lost 5 in a row, 2 in overtime)

-This is the first and only meeting of the season between these two "non-rivals"... considering there is no built-up hatred for each other and Langley has nothing to play for, you have to wonder how much passion there will be in this game on either side

-fatigue will be a factor for both teams, as both will be playing their 3rd game in 2 and a half days. Conditioning will be tested bigtime and we'll see who's in what shape as the game progresses.

-coming off 5 straight wins, the Cents will get a pretty good shot to extend this run to double digits, as their next 5 games (in 8 days) are all against against teams that are out of the playoffs, and Nanaimo will be the only team that is even above .500 on the coming schedule. The key for Merritt is to stay focused and motivated and not to allow themselves to relax thinking that these wins will fall into place on their own. It's easier said than done when you're playing a team for the only time in a season, but if Merritt can approach these games with the same mentality they did against Vernon and Chilliwack, they could build something magical here that will all but assure them a 2nd seed and home ice advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs

-considering that Merritt has won 5 straight and Langley has lost 5 straight, the key for the Cents in this one is simply not to reverse momentum... they can't give the Rivermen any life, because every team loves the role of spoiler, and guys are still playing for scholarships and jobs next year. The Rivermen likely don't have much confidence right now, which the Cents will try to ensure with another quick start like the one against Chilliwack. If they can do that, Langley might just get demoralized and subconcsiously roll over, allowing Merritt to ride the cruise control for the 2 points

-Langley's biggest problem is defensively, where they average 4 goals against per game, and have averaged 6 against over the 5 game losing skid. This is a very young, inexperienced team that are learning on the fly, and the goaltenders haven't been good enough to bail them out. With that in mind, the Cents can help themselves by firing rubber from everywhere, because the 2 goaltenders (James Barr and Jim Kruger) are a little shell-shocked right now and likely fragile with their confidence. Meanwhile the Cents have gotten plenty of balanced scoring of late, so they have a lot of guys with confidence they can score goals right now

-Offensively, Langley averages well under 3 goals per game, which is worst in the Coastal Conference and 2nd worst overall in the league after Trail, but they do still have some weapons up front, including 20 goal scorer Mario Puskarich, set-up man Darnell Dyck and big-bodied Mike Tebbutt on the 1st line. There is some decent offense on the 2nd line as well, but a big drop-off from lines 3 and 4, and only 5 goals from their entire blueline combined. The Cents simply have much more depth, better defense/goaltending and better special teams

-amazingly, despite all these seemingly major differences, Darnell Dyck is the only point a game player for Langley, and Regan Soquila is the only point a game player for Merritt

-despite this similarity, Merritt is at the peak of their game right now and have opened up a double digit lead on the 2nd seed in the Interior Conference. With that in mind, and 1/3rd of the season left (20 games), the Cents are in a very luxurious situation where they basically have a couple of months to warm up and perfect their game come playoff time. And let's be honest, if they're ever looking at a 7 game series vs Penticton, they could use as much practice as possible. Right now might be the best, most convenient time to challenge them based on how the Cents are playing, but they'll first have to show their ability to win games that they should win, before getting an opportunity to knock off a team that nobody can picture losing another game at this point.

UPDATE: As expected, Lino Chimienti will get back in the crease for this matinee. Lino comes into this game having won 4 straight games, 2 of them shutouts, and another one where he gave up just 1 goal to Vernon. There are no other lineup changes from last night for Merritt, as Sean Maktaak remains out with a concussion. Everything seems to be working from every angle, so no need to mess with a good thing

Meanwhile, here's Langley's roster for this game:

Mario Puskarich (92)    Mike Tebbutt (92)       Darnell Dyck (91)
               
Derek Sutliffe (92)        Austin Plevy (94)         Chris Tracy (92)

Peter McMullen (93)    Evan Campbell (93)     Ben Greiner (93)        
               
Danny Vlanich (93)      Sebastien Pare (93)     Jackson Playfair (94)


                         Thomas Nitsche (92)        Ray Bell (93)

                       Richard Coyne (91)        Ryan Bakken (91)

                           Valik Chichkin (94)        Bo Pellah (95)

                                          Nicholas Gushue (94) 


                                             James Barr (93)
   
                                             Jim Kruger (92)   

SCRATCHES:

Scott Moyer (92) INJ

Opening face-off for this game is at 2:00 pm at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena. I will have the pre-game show starting at 1:30 pm. You can tune in on Q101 FM in Merritt or online at Q101.ca

Cents Find Offense from Numerous Sources, Dominate the Chiefs for their 5th Straight Win

 

The Energizer bunny keeps going, and going... and going........ and going. It's officially the longest winning streak of the season for Merritt, who followed up an impressive 3-0 shutout over the Vipers Friday with an equally impressive and even more dominant 5-1 dismantling of the Chilliwack Chiefs on Saturday.

-As if there weren't already enough positive storylines to focus on with the Centennials, they seem to build more each and every game. Tonight, Tyler Martin had his best game as a Centennial, picked up his 1st BCHL goal and a nifty assist... new Centennial Carter Shinkaruk set up the Martin goal for his 2nd point in 2 games with Merritt... Brendan Lamont scored his 2nd goal and 3rd point in 4 games after a 19 game pointless drought... every line scored at least 1 goal (like in the 7-4 win vs Salmon Arm)... Tyler Steel came up with a big game after sitting out the previous 4 for off-ice reasons... the PK went a perfect 5 for 5 and has now killed off 49 of the last 54 opposition power plays (league best 90+% during that span), while the PP has also scored in 2 straight games. Just over a month ago, both the PP and PK were 15th in the league, now they're both 9th. No coincidence the Cents are rolling.

-the Centennials took control of this game early and never really looked back. Tyler Martin got the offense rolling with a nifty pass from just inside the blueline to Brandon Bruce, who re-directed the puck perfectly past the glove of Mitch Gillam. Shortly thereafter, the Cents got a lucky bounce on the PP off the skates of Brayden Low to make it 2-0, and not long after that, Tyler Martin finished off a 2 on 1 off a perfect pass from new Centennial Carter Shinkaruk to make it 3-0. 3 goals in 3 and a half minutes, and the Cents never looked back. That was the end of the night for starter Mitch Gillam, and even though Brydon Udy was better, he was peppered just as much as Gillam was. The Centennials were dominant all period, outshooting the Chiefs 16-6, and Tyler Steel had one big save to highlight his period.

-the 2nd period showed the Chiefs get a little bit of life, and Tyler Steel was a little busier turning aside 10 shots, but Merritt still carried the play and had the better scoring chances. Bryton Udy was quite strong keeping the Chiefs in it, but he made a crucial mistake on a Reece Wilcox dump-in from center that he mishandled, allowing Brendan Lamont to jam in the puck in from the goal line. That 4-0 goal was the ultimate backbreaker that the Chiefs just couldn't recover from. That's how it stayed through 40 mins.

-for the 2nd straight game, the Cents were able to keep their foot on the gas pedal in the 3rd period, and never really gave Chilliwack a chance to mount any sort of comeback. The Chiefs did get a nice tip-in from newcomer Kody Dhaliwal 5 minutes in (set up by the other newcomer, defenseman Anderson White), but that's as close as they would come. I thought Dhaliwal, playing with Bondra, were the most dangerous combo for the Chiefs on the night, but simply couldn't do enough to overcome the areas that Chilliwack was outplayed in. The Cents locked it down, and even answered the Chiefs marker just over a minute later, when Billy Marshall sent Chad Brears up the middle, and Brears fire a wicked shot off the post and in, blocker side to put the game away at 5-1.

-For my money, this was the most dominant PK I've seen from the Centennials all season long. They were extremely aggressive and won battles along the wall all night long. Everybody was willing to sacrifice their body to block shots, and the team did a great job of clearing the crease whenever there was a loose puck in front of Tyler. It was an overall outstanding defensive effort once again, giving up just 23 shots, making Tyler Steel's solid game almost a non-factor, which speaks wonders about the team play in front of him.

-The Chiefs were stifled and frustrated through the game, as Merritt effectively clogged up the neutral zone and often broke up the Chiefs rush before they entered the offensive zone. 

-Carter Shinkaruk, to me, looked even more impressive tonight than in his debut Friday where he scored. He seemed more confident and comfortable in his role and made plays happen all over the ice, almost setting up a couple of other goals. He was actually more noticable in this game than the one on Friday, but both were very promising indicators of what could come during the final stretch of the season for the newest Centennial 

-It's worth noting that this was literally the "biggest" Cents win of the season. Nothing has come easy for them, and this was the first victory by more than 3 goals (the first 2 were with an empty netter, one against Chilliwack, the last one was a 7-4 win over Salmon Arm without an empty netter)

-Overall, the Centennials were ferocious all night long at both ends of the ice, and definitely showed more hunger and willpower than the Chiefs, even though it's Chilliwack who's in danger of missing the playoffs and entered the night 9 points back of Merritt. They finished the night just 3 points ahead of Vernon for the 4th and final playoff spot with plenty of hockey yet to be played for the Vipers to catch up

-as for Merritt, the win puts them comfortably 10 points up on Prince George (Spruce Kings were the latest victims in Penticton's 23rd straight win, but still hold 1 game in hand on Merritt) and 11 points up on Chilliwack (though the Chiefs still have 3 games in hand)

Here are the audio highlights from Merritt's most dominant win of the season:

Chilliwack @ Merritt Jan 14 Highlights by agreb21