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The flu bug and a host of injuries could not have come at a worse time for the Merritt Centennials.
A couple of wins for the Trail Smoke Eaters have put the team ahead of the Centennials, leaving only Williams Lake behind the Cents in the interior conference standings.
The Cents are now tied for second last in the entire B.C. Hockey League, sharing the shame with the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
“Every single guy on the team has been sick at one point,” said Centennials captain Jordan Soquila. Although players are recovering, the flu has spread throughout the entire dressing room.
To make matters worse, enforcer Joey McEwan and forward Jeff Zmurchyk are both suffering from concussions, forward Alex Valenti is out with a knee injury, a shoulder injury has forward Kevin Philp sitting in the stands, and both goaltenders, Cole Holowenko and Keith Hamilton are out of the lineup with lower body injuries.
Junior B goaltenders Cameron Dagg and Riley Walls have come in relief and have had to weather the high amount of shots that come with a very liberal Centennials defensive crew. The Cents have allowed the most goals in the league with 124 goals against.
“It was Cameron’s first Junior A start and he did alright for the most part,” said Centennials assistant coach Tyler Forsythe of the 10-4 loss to the Vernon Vipers.
Forsythe says defenceman Steve Tresierra has played well along with the line of Dustin Johnson, Andrew Pickering, and Jeff Jones.
The last three games have shown a glimmer of hope. The Cents scored four goals against the Vernon Vipers in a 10-4 loss, the most goals scored by any team this year against the former national champions. The Cents also fired the most shots the Vipers have had to face so far this season.
After several blow out games this season, the Cents managed to stay in their last two games; a 4-1 loss to Penticton Saturday, and a 5-2 loss to Surrey last Sunday afternoon.
“We just weren’t able to generate the offense we needed,” said Centennials captain Jordan Soquilla.
“We need to work on down low play in our own zone and we’ve been working on communication with each other,” said Soquila.
The Cents will get time to recuperate for the next five days as they don’t play again until Nov. 10 at home to the league-leading Vernon Vipers.
The Trail Smoke Eaters are only one point ahead of the Cents and the Quesnel Millionaires and Prince George Spruce Kings are all within three points of the Cents reach.
The Cents have a game in hand or more on the teams they are chasing for the final playoff spot.
“For the most part, we’ve got enough guys that can play well together and I think they proved that when we beat Penticton,” said Forsythe.
