The Merritt Centennials scored four goals on six powerplay opportunities en route to a 5-1 B.C. Hockey League win over the host West Kelowna Warriors on Tuesday at Royal LePage Place.
Tied 1-1 after the first period on goals by Chase Bell ( Merritt) and Connor Sodergren (West Kelowna), the Centennials went up by two goals in the second period with unanswered markers by Tyler Ward and Cade Gleekel. They added a pair of goals in the third by Tyler Pietrowski and Zach Risteau.
Jacob Berger earned the win in goal for the Cents, stopping 35 of 36 Warriors shots, while Xavier Burghardt took the loss in the WK net, allowing the five goals on 31 shots in front of 732 fans.
The win improved Merritt’s record to 3-2-1 in the Interior Division while West Kelowna fell to 4-2 after winning their previous three games.
Up next for the Warriors is a game against the division-leading Penticton Vees (5-1) on Friday at Royal LePage Place beginning at 7 p.m.
A split of their opening two games of the season is what their new coach believed the Okanagan Rockets deserved.
But Eric Blais showed his competitive side early when he lamented the fact his Kelowna-based B.C. Major Midget Hockey League team missed the opportunity to sweep the visiting Fraser Valley Thunderbirds on the weekend
The host Rockets, made up of 15-17-year-old players from throughout the Okanagan, started the 2016-17 season on Saturday at the CNC by edging the T-birds 3-2, but dropped a 5-3 decision on Sunday.
“There were stretches where we played very well and stretches where the lack of attention to detail and the lack of discipline got the better of us,” said Blais. “But hey, it’s September and you don’t expect things to be perfect. We’ve got lots to learn, but we’re ironing things out and hopefully we can remove the creases before we get too far into the season.”
A powerplay goal by returning defenceman Cody Schiavon with 4:14 remaining in the game lifted the Rockets to the win in the opener.
Fraser Valley had opened the scoring just two minutes in while Dylan Prpich, a newcomer from Calgary, made it 1-1 with the first of three Okanagan goals with the man advantage.
Max Kryski put the Rockets ahead midway through the second period while the Thunderbirds came back with an equalizer just over a minute into the third period.
“The score was close, but basically we dominated the game,” offered Blais, whose team outshot the visitors 45-24 with Nikolas Bregeda earning the win in goal. “Their goalie (Boston Bilous) was very good but we also didn’t capitalize on a lot of our opportunities.”
A three-goal third period earned the T-Birds the victory on Sunday after the two teams had played to a 2-2 draw through 40 minutes.
Trailing after the first period, the Rockets got on the board midway through the second on Prpich’s second goal in as many games. Fraser Valley took the lead again at 16:07 of the middle frame, only to have the Rockets pull even again, this time on a shorthanded marker by Eli Zummack, who has returned from a solid pre-season with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League.
While the Thunderbirds took the lead again at 9:12 of the third period and went up by a pair, the Rockets responded with a push-back goal 26 seconds later by Tanner Bahm. But the T-Birds put the game away with their insurance marker with 3:45 left.
The Rockets are back in action this weekend as part of the BCMMHL’s Fall Showcase in Richmond. They’ll play the Greater Vancouver Canadians on Friday and Saturday.
ICE CHIPS: The Rockets will play without three key players with whom they had made a commitment earlier this fall . . . Kelowna Minor Hockey Association product, Lucas Cullen, will play with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL this season while another KMHA and Okanagan Hockey Academy grad, Keltie Jeri-Leon, has stuck with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans . . . Defenceman Wyatt McLeod, 16, has made the Edmonton Oil Kings’s roster . . . . The Rockets have selected Zummack as the captain of the team . . . The KMHA/Pursuit of Excellence product led the Rockets in points last season with 52 in 37 games and is expected to be the go-to guy offensively for the team in ’16-’17 . . . “Eli is back to play top-six minutes and show his leadership with us so he’s ready to step in at Spokane next season,” noted Blais. “He’s going to make a our team better all the way down the lineup. With him in there, he opens up space for other guys. He just makes everyone around him better.”
Taking a comfortable 24-point lead into the second half, the Kelowna Crows experienced a hiccup early in the second, but rebounded for a 34-17 victory over Langley in B.C. Rugby Union Okanagan Springs Brewery League Division 1 play on the weekend.
A well-disciplined Crows unit scored early as Jeff Lohse opened the match at Parkinson Sportsfields with a try and added a second major after Ignacio Guerra had sandwiched a five-pointer in between.
Langley applied heavy pressure to the Crows after the break and got to within 10 points in the 74th minute, but a delicate chip by Barak Paul to Guerra resulted in another try to put the game away and improve the Crows’ record to 2-0.
Meanwhile, the Div. 2 Crows fell 12-10 in Langley.
The hosts scored first with a penalty kick, but Langley replied with a converted try. The Crows’ Lepani Nacola displayed magical feet with a well-executed try in the 25th minutes to make it 10-7 for Kelowna at halftime.
The second half was even tighter, with the only points going to Langley.
The Div. 1 Crows have a bye week, while the Div. 2s
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