Game 6 Preview: Vees Look for a Bounce Back and Series win in Merritt

Season Series

October 7^th: Merritt 1 at Penticton 5

October 8^th: Penticton 4 at Merritt 3 (OT)

October 21^st: Penticton 4 at Merritt 2

November 19^th: Merritt 2 at Penticton 3 (OT)

December 30^th: Merritt 2 at Penticton 4

January 13^th: Penticton 2 at Merritt 3

February 1^st: Penticton 4 at Merritt 2

Playoff Schedule

GM 1: Merritt 1 at Penticton 4

GM 2: Merritt 1 at Penticton 4

GM 3: Penticton 1 at Merritt 5

GM 4: Penticton 2 at Merritt 1 (OT)

GM 5: Merritt 5 at Penticton 4

GM 6: March 24^th at Merritt, 7 pm

*GM 7: March 27^th at SOEC, 7 pm

* If necessary

The Penticton Vees have a second chance at a series win tonight when they travel to Merritt for Game Six of their Interior Division Semi-Final against the Centennials; face-off is 7 pm.

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Last night the Cents’ staved off elimination with a 5-4 win at the SOEC in Game Five, as the Vees now lead the best-of-seven series now 3-2.

Merritt got goals from five different players as they twice had two-goal leads and never trailed in Thursday’s win. It was a back-and-forth game, that saw both teams capitalized on each other’s mistakes.

Owen Sillinger, Mitch Meek, Jared Nash and Grant Cruikshank scored in a losing cause and Mat Robson was tagged with the loss, stopping 21 of 26 shots. Cruikshank and Nicholas each had two-point games in the loss, Cruikshank getting his first two points in the series.

Cade Gleekel, Zach Zorn, Stephan Seeger, Zach Risteau and Rylan Van Unen scored for Merritt, who picked up their first win in Penticton since October, 2016; snapping a 16-game winless streak. Tyler Ward continued his excellent playoff run, picking up a pair of assists in the win, and now leads the BCHL in scoring with 16 points; a point up on Chilliwack’s Jordan Kawaguchi.

One telling stat in this series has been the starts. The team that has scored first has won every game. Penticton was 29-5-0-3 in the regular season when they scored first and are 3-0 in the playoffs. Merritt is a perfect 6-0 when scoring first this post-season. In Game Four, the last game in Merritt, it was Vees’ Captain Nicholas Jones opening the scoring halfway through the first period, en route to the 2-1 overtime win.

Despite the fact the Vees have to go back to Merritt, they should be pretty comfortable in the hostile surroundings. In six games this season in Merritt (regular season + playoffs) the Vees are 4-2. Their only two losses came on January 13^th (3-2) and in Game Three on March 20^th (5-1).  In the playoffs, the Cents’ are 3-1 at Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, but they had their seven-game home win streak snapped by the Vees back on March 21^st; their last home loss before that was February 1^st, against Penticton too.

Mat Robson will be back in between the pipes for the Vees and is 3-2 in the post-season, owning a 2.39 goals-against average and has a.910 save percentage. Thursday’s result wasn’t kind to his numbers, as his save percentage dropped 25 points. Robson, like the Vees as a whole, knows how to bounce back.

Penticton is 12-2-1-1 when coming off a loss this season (regular season + playoffs). They should their true mettle in Game Four, winning in OT after a disappointing loss the game prior. The Vees will need to conjure up that same resolve tonight.

Looking at the line-up, the Vees will likely have forward Turner Ripplinger slot back in after sitting out Game Five. Massimo Rizzo did make his BCHL playoff debut last night, as the 15-year-old skated alongside Jared Nash and Ryley Risling. It very well could be the line-up the Vees iced for the first four games of the series.

Merritt changed up their line combinations ahead of Game Five and it seemed to pay immediate dividends. The line of Tyler Ward, Cade Gleekel and Rylan Van combine for two goals and four points in the Game Five win Thursday; those three will most certainly be together again tonight.

Vees’ Playoff Scoring

Centennials’ Playoff Scoring:

Tonight’s game can be heard on EZ Rock AM 800 locally, or via the iHeartRadio app on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone and or tablet. The game is also available via the BCHL webcast at www.HockeyTV.com