It’s the seventh and final regular season meeting between the Penticton Vees (34-13-0-3) and the Merritt Centennials (30-14-2-3) and it’s at the SOEC. The Cent have bested the Vees in the last three meetings, two of the three decided by one goal; the other an empty-net goal giving the Cents a 4-2 win.
The two met just six days ago at Nicola Valley Arena in Merritt, a game in which the Vees almost clawed back from a two-goal deficit. Twice the Vees went down by two; twice they made it a one-goal game. Saturday’s contest, like every Vees-Cents clash, didn’t lack controversy, as the Vees had two disallowed goals in the first two periods.
The Vees did rebound with a convincing 7-1 thumping of the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Sunday. Wade Murphy, Sam Mellor, Brad McClure and John Siemer all finished with three point games; Murphy scored a pair of goals, one short-handed, in the win. Nic Renyard made 15 saves but looked sharp with the light workload, picking up his ninth win in his first start since January 20th.
Mike Rebry marked his return to the line-up with an assist on Brad McClure’s third period goal. Rebry missed the previous five games after serving a suspension, stemming from the January 26th game against West Kelowna. With the exception of Brayden Park, the Vees do now have a full line-up and hopefully I can write that for more than just one game. Park is making progress as he recovers from a lower-body injury he picked up in late January.
If the Vees are going to beat the Centennials tonight, they’re going to have to look at their starts. In the last three meetings, the Cents have scored first, and have had leads heading into the third period in each of the three games. When the Vees score first they’re 22-2-0-2 but the Cents are 23-4-2-2 when they do the same. How much better are the Vees with a lead through two periods? They have yet to lose in regulation when leading after forty-minutes, boasting a 26-0-0-2 record; just 3-10-0-1 when trailing going into the third.
The Cents were upended 2-1 by the Trail Smoke Eaters on Wednesday and failed to gain any ground on the Vees for first in the Interior Division. Coming into tonight, the Vees have a six point cushion on Merritt but the Cents still have one game in-hand. Merritt has been one of the hotter teams in the BCHL, as they’ve won five of their last six and have seven wins in their last ten outings. After tonight, the Cents play three straight against the West Kelowna Warriors, the team directly below them in the standings. Merritt is five points up on the Tribe and both teams have seven games remaining in their schedule.
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