Called out last week for their inconsistent play of late, the Merritt Centennials responded with a run of three victories on the weekend — in a span of less than 48 hours.
Friday night, at the Royal LePage Centre in West Kelowna, it was Shane Poulsen’s second overtime goal of the year that led the Cents to a dramatic 4-3 win over the Warriors. Poulsen’s other OT winner was also against the Shielded Ones back on October 17.
Twenty-four hours later, on the road again at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm, the Centennials did all their scoring in the second period en route to a 4-3 victory over the Silverbacks. The game marked Jonah Imoo’s first win between the pipes for Merritt in almost seven weeks following an injury sustained October 3 against the Vernon Vipers.
Finally, on Sunday, in front of a sparse matinee crowd of 612 fans at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena, the Centennials made the most of their 23 shots on net to outlast the visiting Cowichan Capitals 6-4.
With both teams playing their third game in as many days, the surly nature of the afternoon affair was not a surprise — the sides amassed 80 minutes in penalties between them.
Merritt head coach and GM Luke Pierce called Friday’s victory over West Kelowna “one of the best games we’ve played in a long time.”
After giving up the contest’s first two goals to West Kelowna in the opening period, the Cents battled back with three unanswered tallies of their own — courtesy of Diego Cuglietta, John Schiavo and a rejuvenated Daniel Nachbaur shorthanded.
Merritt held onto the one-goal lead until the 18:17 mark of the third period, when an always-dangerous Jason Cotton buried the equalizer with Warriors’ netminder Scott Patton on the bench for an extra attacker.
After a scoreless first OT period, it was back-to-back breakaways in the last 90 seconds of play that ultimately determined the outcome of the game.
The Warriors’ Jona-than Desbiens was thwarted by Merritt netminder Anthony Pupplo at one end of the ice; moments later, Poulsen made no mistake — going in alone and finding the twine behind Patton for the game winner.
The Centennials outshot the Warriors 47-31 over the 69 minutes of end-to-end action, went two-for-six with the man advantage, and killed five-of-six power play opportunities for West Kelowna.
Lost to the Cents in Friday’s game was stalwart second-year defenceman Malik Kaila. The Squamish native sustained a broken index finger on his right hand blocking a shot and will be lost to the team for a minimum of four to six weeks.
Saturday’s tilt on the shores of Shuswap Lake had a couple of rarities — just one power play for each team and a fight. The latter involved Merritt’s Cole Arcuri and the Arm’s Carson Bolduc. It was an anomaly as the two teams stuck to good, clean, fast hockey for much of the contest.
“The game in Salmon Arm was a phenomenal one to play in and to coach,” Pierce said. “The game was physical and intense, but nobody went over the line. The ref [Ryan Lesage] did a great job.”
After Logan Mick gave the ’Backs the lead in the first period, the Cents went to work in the middle stanza. Sam Johnson, Nachbaur, Gavin Gould and Josh Teves (with his first-ever BCHL goal) all beat Salmon Arm starter Angus Redmond, while only Ross Heidt could reply for the Silverbacks.
Shane Danyluk made things interesting with the lone goal of the third period, but Imoo and company shut the door the rest of the way for Merritt’s third successive win. The Cents once again outshot their opposition, 37-33.
Merritt Centennial Daniel Nachbaur (centre) celebrates one of his three goals on the weekend with teammates Cole Arcuri (26), Matt Foley and Devin Oakes (27). The Cents take a four-game win streak into this weekend’s pair of games against the league-leading Penticton Vees. Ian Webster/Herald
If Saturday’s game was squeaky clean in terms of penalties, Sunday’s was a mess. An ornery Capitals team looking to salvage something out of a miserable three-game Interior road swing played surly right from the opening puck drop. They rankled the Cents sufficiently that it was Merritt players who took the only four penalties of the first period — all retaliatory.
Down 2-1 after 20 minutes (Diego Cuglietta had Merritt’s only goal), the Cents again woke up in the second stanza, outscoring their opponents 4-1 just like they did in Salmon Arm. Brandon Duhaime, Michael Ederer, Nachbaur and Schiavo all put pucks past Caps’ goaltender Lane Michasiw.
The middle period saw substantial silliness as Cowichan’s Thomas Gobeil made a fool of himself on and off the ice before getting ejected from the game.
Johnson buried his second of the weekend, shorthanded in the third period, to close out Merritt’s scoring.
Kade Kehoe and Adam Osczevski, recent acquistions from West Kelowna, scored three of the Caps’ four goals; the other one coming from former-Trail Smoke Eater Kyle Horsman.
Pupplo stopped 38 of 42 shots in the Cents’ net, while Michasiw turned aside just 17 of 23.
“Initially, I was really disappointed with our start on Sunday,” Pierce said. “Now, looking back on it, Friday and Saturday were really emotional games against Interior division rivals. There was bound to be a bit of a letdown. I don’t think that we were underestimating Cowichan at all. We were just drained a bit.”
In a scary moment on Sunday, Merritt’s Cole Arcuri was rushed off the ice for immediate medical attention. The injury has been reported as a substantial laceration of the thigh muscle above the knee requiring stitches. The skate cut happened quite by accident as the 18-year-old defenceman battled for the puck along the end boards with a Cowichan player.
With Kaila and Arcuri both on the sidelines for the foreseeable future, Merritt will take a somewhat-depeleted blueline brigade into this weekend’s home-and-home series with the league-leading Penticton Vees. The two teams meet at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Friday, and then in Merritt on Saturday.
OVERTIME
While coach Pierce is still working on shoring up his blue line for this weekend’s doubleheader, he has brought in a new player to address the shortage at centre. Eighteen-year-old forward Cole Chorney from Beaumont, Alta. has been assigned to the Centennials from the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League.
In 64 games with the Rebels, Chorney scored six goals and added six assists for 12 points.
It’s not a coincidence that the four-game winning streak that Merritt is currently enjoying coincides with the return of Cents’ defenceman Jake Clifford to the lineup following a six-game suspension.
“Jake’s a huge factor,” Pierce said. “He definitely adds elements to our game.”
One of those elements was in evidence on the weekend as Clifford laid out several crushing bodychecks on unsuspecting opponents. His trademark hip check, for which he should not be getting penalties, brings back memories of recent NHL Hall-of-Fame inductee Rob Blake.
Set to return this weekend is forward James Neil, who has been on the sidelines for several games with an undisclosed injury. In his absence, AP-call-up Brett Jewell of the KIJHL’s Osoyoos Coyotes has been playing some solid minutes.
Joining Pierce and assistant coach Joe Martin on the bench Sunday was Merritt’s own Cole Yurkowski. He is getting set to play the assistant’s role behind Martin when Pierce heads to the World Junior A Challenge Team Canada West tryout camp next week, and the World Juniors themselves in December. Pierce is an assistant coach with Team Canada West.
BCHL names Schiavo Player of the Week
For the second time this season, the British Columbia Hockey League has recognized a Merritt Centennial as the Player of the Week.
The league announced on Monday that 20-year-old Cents’ rookie John Schiavo has been chosen the POW for the week ending November 16.
Schiavo, a native of East Patchogue, N.Y., helped his Merritt team win four games in a row in a span of just six days with three of those games on the road.
In Trail on November 11, Schiavo scored the game winner in a tight 2-1 Cents’ victory over the Smoke Eaters. On November 14 in West Kelowna, he was credited with a goal and an assist in a dramatic come-from-behind 4-3 overtime win against the Warriors.
Two days later, in a Sunday matinee tilt versus the visiting Cowichan Valley Capitals, Schiavo again notched the game winner, added an assist and picked up first-star honours in the Centennials’ 6-4 beat-down of the Island-division Caps.
Merritt defenceman Shane Poulsen was the BCHL’s Player of the Week in early October.
