FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, March 28th
MERRITT EARNS SPLIT IN PENTICTON
PENTICTON, BC- The Merritt Centennials scored four goals in the second period en route to a 4-3 win in game two of the Interior Conference Final; the win evens the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
Entering the contest, the Vees had won every playoff game in which they scored the opening goal but it didn’t continue Wednesday. Travis St. Denis scored his first of two not even three minutes into the first period on the power-play. Mario Lucia fired a hard pass to the goal-line which St. Denis redirected high over the glove of Tyler Steel at 2:27; St. Denis collecting his first goal in the playoffs.
An early penalty in the second period seemed to turn the tide in Merritt’s favour. On their second man-advantage, Evan Stack broke in on the right side before throwing a pass across the crease for Chad Brears, who redirected it past a fallen Chad Katunar at 4:52. The Centennials made it a two goal lead seconds after the tying goal. There was a scramble in front of the Vees net, which resulted in the puck being stuffed past Katunar at 5:11. Silvan Harper was credited for last touching the puck before it crossed the line; two Centennial goals in just nineteen seconds.
Merritt kept coming, increasing their lead to two when Evan Stack scored on an identical play to that of Chad Brears. Regan Soquila took the puck wide on the right-wing before finding Stack at the far post for a tap-in at 8:43; the Centennials fashioning together three goals in under four minutes. Brent Fletcher made it a 4-1 game when he darted in on the right-wing and let go a low shot that eluded Katunar at 15:54; Fletcher putting the puck past the blocker of Katunar on the far side.
The Vees showed some life right after the Centennials went up by three; Travis St. Denis banging in a rebound in the crease at 16:02 to cut the deficit in half. St. Denis found the rebound off the pad of Steel and punched it past the goalie for his second in as many periods.
Steven Fogarty looked to put the Vees on the comeback trail midway through the third period. Fogarty cut the Merritt lead to one when he danced around a defender before putting a shot up high, over the glove of Steel at 11:18. The Vees pressured the Cents’ to the end but couldn’t find the equalizer thanks to the strong goaltending of Tyler Steel, who made key saves off Joey Benik and Travis St. Denis in the dying moments of the game.
FINAL SCORE:4-3 Centennials
Shots: 32-23 Vees
Power-Plays: Vees 1/1 Cents’ 1/3
Attendance: 2,026
Three Stars: 1. Tyler Steel 2.Chad Brears 3. Steven Fogarty
Hardest Working Vee: Zach Urban
Valley First Charitable Donation Grand Total: $5, 265
The loss is the first in regulation this season for the Vees at the SOEC; before tonight they were 32-0-0-2 on home ice dating back to the regular season.
The series shifts to Merritt for games three and four on the weekend. Penticton looks to reclaim a series lead in game three on Friday, March 30th; puck drop is 7:30pm.
They’re still tickets available for the Vees fan bus on both Friday and Saturday nights. Interested fans are asked to call Director of Ticketing, Will Russell at 250-493-VEES (8337) or email VeesTicketing@gmail.com
The pre-game show on EZ Rock AM 800 starts twenty minutes prior to puck drop; you can also tune in on MyEZRock.com, and at BCHL.ca where both the audio stream and Pay-Per-View video are availa
