After erasing a 3-0 deficit, the Penticton Vees were unable to hold onto their lead against the Merritt Centennials in a 6-4 loss in Merritt on Wednesday.
Zach Driscoll got the start for the Vees, but was pulled after 20 minutes when he allowed three goals on 13 shots.
“We needed to send a message. We needed to change something up. Anthony made some big stops for us in the first few minutes of the second period and gave us a chance to get back in the game, which we did,” Vees coach-general manager Fred Harbinson told the Merritt Herald.
Michael Regush gave the Centennials a 1-0 lead at 8:58 of the opening period, then Nick Jermain popped in two at 9:38 and 19:05.
The Vees used their BCHL-leading power-play to get back into it in the second period. At 3:19, Easton Brodzinski finished a play started by Scott Conway and Nicholas Jones, when he fired a backhand shot upstairs on Cole Kehler, who finished with 36 saves. Three minutes and five seconds later, Brodzinski was at it again, scoring his 27th goal of the season and 16th on the power play with another backhand shot. The Vees evened the score on the penalty-kill 10 minutes later. Conway and Luke Voltin broke into the Centennials zone and after dishing the puck off to Voltin, the puck ended up back near Conway, who tapped it in for his 45th goal.
“We had excellent special teams. Scott Conway had a heck of a game,” said Harbinson. “He was pretty determined to get us back in the game once we got down.”
Conway then gave the Vees a 4-3 lead in the third period at 9:03, again shorthanded, when he took a feed from Jones and got past Jermain to snap a wrist shot blocker side on Kehler.
The Centennials then scored three goals, including an empty net tally, in the final 1:33 of the third. The first was by Penticton minor hockey product Tyrell Buckley, whose shot from the point found its way past Brodeur. It was Buckley’s first BCHL goal.
“A simple play. We win a face-off, Buckley gets himself into a good shooting angle, we get a screen, and it’s in the back of the net,” said Centennials coach Joe Martin. “I’m so happy for Tyrell. [His first BCHL goal has] been a long time coming. He’s a great person, a great teammate, and a leader on this team. What timing. Penticton is his hometown.”
Nine seconds later, Jermain cashed in at the side of the net to complete the hat trick. Brett Jewell scored the final goal.
“You look back and maybe I could have called a timeout near the end of the game when they had their top line out. We didn’t execute the play we were supposed to and the puck ends up in our net,” said Harbinson. “Then they get a lucky bounce and the puck goes off a player’s stick and in the net.”
Brodeur was handed his first loss of the season as he turned aside 22 of 24 shots.
The Vees are next in action Friday and Saturday for a home and home series with the Trail Smoke Eaters beginning at the South Okanagan Events Centre at 7 p.m.