It’s the final regular season game of the year as the Smoke Eaters head to Merritt, with another opportunity to sweep the season series against an interior division foe.
Regular season vs Merritt
October 4th @ South Okanagan Events Centre (BCHL Showcase) 7-1W (BOXSCORE)
November 27th @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena 9-2W (BOXSCORE)
January 3rd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena 6-3W (BOXSCORE)
January 4th @ Cominco Arena 5-2W (BOXSCORE)
January 14th @ Cominco Arena 6-4W (BOXSCORE)
January 18th @ Cominco Arena 4-3W (BOXSCORE)
February 22nd @ Nicola Valley Memorial Arena
The Smoke Eaters will make their final trip to the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena (NVMA) as they take on the Merritt Centennials, wrapping up a 7 game season series and their 58 game schedule. Coming off another win on home ice on Friday night the Smoke Eaters will look to complete the season sweep against the Centennials. With six wins from six games already the Smoke Eaters have an opportunity to take all seven against Merritt, something they’ve done to only one other interior team in West Kelowna, where they won all six in their season series. Coming off a impressive 5-1 win on home ice without Kent Johnson and Carson Briere in the lineup. Not that they needed to but the Smoke Eaters proved to everyone that they don’t need Johnson to win hockey games, even though he sure does help. While it won’t be official till the season ends on Sunday afternoon Johnson will take home the Brett Hull Trophy as the leagues leading scorer. The first of what could be many awards for Michigan commit. A win tonight for the Smoke Eaters will tie them to the franchise record in points in a season at 79, set during the 1996-97 season, which was also a 60 game BCHL season. Anything other than a regulation loss would also set a franchise record for fewest losses in a season by any Smoke Eaters team in the BCHL era. The record is currently at 17 gamesset again by the 96-97 team. A win would also secure them third overall in the BCHL, a position that could come in handy if they are to make it to the BCHL finals.
Last ten games: 7-2-0-1
Leading scorers:
Johnson (41-60-101)
Colella (26-41-67)
Ozar (24-39-63)
Lapointe (20-35-55)
DiMurro (6-32-38)
For the Centennials it will be about ending the regular season on a positive note. With still one more game to play Sunday afternoon in Salmon Arm the Cents will wrap up their home ice schedule and take to the ice at the NVMA one last time this season. It hasn’t gone the Cents way this year and being the only team to miss the BCHL playoffs tell most of the story. While they were in a playoff position in January a 15 game losing streak saw the Centennials slip out of postseason contention. While they have put together some big wins over the last week beating the Bulldogs and Silverbacks. Merritt can’t make the playoffs but could still have a role to play on Sunday when they face Salmon Arm, who are of course trying to work their way up to third in the interior, and Merritt could stop them from doing so. They’ll want to end the regular season on home ice with a positive performance.
Last ten games: 3-7-0
Centennials leading scorers:
Matsui (17-25-42)
Buono (9-26-35)
Manty (12-21-33)
Tkac (10-18-28)
Zakall (5-22-27)
Make sure to catch the game on HockeyTV or Mixlr with Ben Phillips starting at 6:50pm as the Smoke Eaters look to close the regular season out in style. Puck drop will be just after 7pm.
