The 2011-12 minor hockey season officially got underway this past weekend with all four Merritt rep teams seeing action on home ice.
The atom development Junior Centennials got a late goal from Armoni McRae with just 1:35 left to play to edge the visiting Kamloops Jr. Blazers 5-4 on Saturday.
Other Merritt scorers were Jayden Fiche, Talon Zakall, Gillian Moore and Connor Ouellet. Tristen Bjarnason and Nicholas Willey shared the win in net.
The peewee rep Jr. Cents were also victorious on Saturday, as they nipped the Chilliwack Bruins 7-6. Noah Racine had Merritt’s final two goals. Sunil Sahota also tallied twice for the winners, while single goals came from Anthony Tul- liani, Keyton Laupitz and Eric Lalonde. Mack Stead and Dawson Kers-lake shared the victory between the pipes.
The Merritt bantam reps were on the losing end of a pair of weekend games, as they were defeated 10-2 by Vernon on Friday and 8-1 versus Kamloops Saturday. Goal scorers for the Jr. Cents were Riley Barnes, Marcelo Bose and Jessie Cunningham.
The local midget reps defeated their arch-rivals, the Summerland Jets, 8-4 on Friday. Head coach Joe Quewezance’s squad was led by Lucas Parker’s two goals. Singles came from River Lafferty, Cole Drennan, Dalton Suzuki, Dallas Grismer-Voght, Gabriel Musgrave and Nolan Prowal. Kristian Stead, Trevor Hillson and Devin Coulombe all played one period in goal.
This weekend’s schedule of games is still being finalized, however the following rep games have already been confirmed for the Nicola Valley Arena:
Saturday
2:00 – 3:30
Atom Development Exhibition game
3:45 – 6:00
Bantam Reps
vs Salmon Arm
Sunday
8:30 – 10:45
Bantam Reps
vs Salmon Arm
