Game: Merritt Centennials vs Powell River Kings
Arena: Hap Parker Arena
Puck Drop: 7:30
Broadcast: Starts at 7:10pm
95.7 SunFM Free Audio
FastHockey PPV Video
Kings This Season vs Centennials: 0-0-0-0
Last Meeting: Centennials won 4-1
Kings 2012/2013 Record: 3-5-0-2
Kings at home: 2-0-0-1
Kings Last 10: 3-5-0-2
Kings vs Interior: 1-2-0-0
Capitals 2012/2013 Record: 0-0-0-0
Capitals at Home: 0-0-0-0
Capitals Last 10: 0-0-0-0
It’s a new month, a new day and a new opportunity for the Kings. Last weekend’s road trip was not good. That’s obvious and has been beaten to death. It’s in the past and the Kings return home, where they are undefeated this year (for the record, the 1 OT loss was against Surrey at the Showcase. It was listed as a home game) and played two excellent games against the Capitals.
News on the Kings front, is that they have a new player. The better news is that he’s very familiar with the Centennials. Brayden Low was traded to the Kings late Thursday, from the Centennials. I haven’t been told directly by the staff, but Brayden on Twitter is under the impression that he’ll continue his BCHL career with the Kings, and will kick it off against his former team, so I have to go with that and say he’ll be in the lineup tonight.
Brayden has some history with a couple of Kings and ex-Kings. He played in Portland for 4 games a few years back with Teal Burns, who is now with Cowichan. Last year, he started the year with the Richmond Sockeyes, the former team of Jonah Imoo, before moving to the Cents and putting up 5 goals and 15 points in 44 games. So far this year, he has 1 point in 3 games. After only seeing Merritt once, I don’t know much about Low in terms of his play, but he does bare a pretty decent resemblance to Steven Schmidt, and that’s not a bad starting point for a hockey player in Powell River.
In terms of changes for tonight, the press box is pretty crowded. I say that figuratively of course, but it still means the injury list is long. It does get shorter tonight, with Brandan Smith resuming full practice this week, he looks ready to go this weekend, making his debut for the year. Evan Richardson is the only other question mark. He’s day-to-day, still feeling the effects of the Chris Newton hit 3 weeks ago. The others, Scarth, Paddock and Rideout, are all longer term shoulder injuries.
Merritt sit 3rd in the Interior Division, but it’s not for the losses, it’s for the number of games played. They are 4-1-1 this year, with a loss to Prince George at the showcase (4-1), and a tie to the Spruce Kings on the 22nd. Merritt are a hard working team that use their home barn to their advantage. The bowling alley-type surroundings of the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena is probably the best case of home ice advantage in the league, and they’ve showed that this year, by only allowing a max of 2 goals in 3 home games.
But this game isn’t at home…that’s next weekend. The Cents are 1-0-1-0 on the road, with that win coming at the Showcase. I think, from everything I hear, you’ll see two very similar teams on the ice tonight in terms of style. Kent Lewis said mid-week that the Cents play like the Kings do, so it will be a battle of who can do it better on the night.
The Cents are being lead by an unusual source right now. Scoring is coming from 17 year old defenceman Dane Birks, who played in Trail last year. He has 9 points in 5 games, including 2 goals. Behind him, former Langley Rivermen Sebastian Pare, and former Chilliwack Chief Derek Huisman shoulder the load. Every single Cents player, aside from defenceman Charlie Donlin (93) who was acquired yesterday, has recorded a point.
On the show, we’ll have this week’s episode of the BCHL Roundtable. Dan Marshall, Chris Wahl and myself debating the CJHL Top 20 rankings, and picking our favourite jersey’s in the BCHL. Josh Statham will be back for The NHL According to Josh, it’s a lockout free zone.
Also, we’ll talk with new King Brayden Low, and an interesting story on Silvan Harper, a forward for the Merritt Centennials. Silvan is in his 4th year with the Cents, and has missed just 1 game in that span. To date, he’s played 185/186 regular season Centennials games. We’ll tell you when he missed that game, and why when we talk to him tonight.
Derek Bachynski will join us after 60 or so minutes to breakdown the game and preview Saturday’s contest against Victoria. Plus, it’s PARENTS WEEKEND!
