A three-goal first period, including two goals in 30 seconds, paved the way for the Merritt Centennials in a 4-1 home win over the Wenatchee Wild.
Cade Gleekel opened the scoring at 7:55 of the first period and Henry Cleghorn tallied at 8:25 making it 2-0 Cents and chasing Garrett Nieto from the Wild crease. Zach Bleuler’s power-play goal late in the opening frame put Merritt in command, up 3-0 after one.
AJ Vanderbeck responded early in the second for the Wild, just 29 seconds in, but it would be the lone puck to beat Colten Lancaster on the night as he wound up with 30 saves. Michael Regush rounded out the Cents’ scoring in the third period. Anthony Yamnitsky stopped 15 of 17 in relief for Wenatchee.
Connor Sodergren’s goal 29 seconds into overtime lifted the West Kelowna Warriors to a 3-2 comeback win over the visiting Vernon Vipers. Goals by Brett Stapley and Steven Jandric put the Vipers up 2-0 after one but in the second, Chase Dubois got one back for the Warriors on the man advantage. Michael Ryan’s goal in the third set up OT where Sodergren won it early on. Shane Farkas made 34 saves for the win while Ty Taylor stopped 36 for Vernon.
Cam Donaldson scored both goals for the Powell River Kings in a 2-1 home win over the Trail Smoke Eaters. Donaldson opened the scoring in the first and his power-play tally in the second would be the winner. Luke Santerno scored late in the second but it would be the only Trail goal on the night. Brian Wilson made 28 saves for the win while Linden Marshall made 36 saves for the Smoke Eaters.
Tyler Welsh scored twice in the first period and it proved to be all the offence the Victoria Grizzlies needed in a 4-1 home win over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Cayden Kraus got the ‘Dogs on the board in the second but it was the only shot to beat Tony Rehm on the night as he wound up with 20 saves. Lucas Clark and Cam Thompson (empty net) scored in the final frame for the Grizzlies.
Brett Mennear set up the first two goals of the game for the Prince George Spruce Kings in a 6-1 home win over the Nanaimo Clippers. Mennear was in on Chong Lee’s opening goal in the first and set up Jamie Huber’s winner in the second. Jarod Hovde made it 3-0 PG going to the third and it got to be 4-0 on a Connor Russell goal before Spencer Hewson got the lone Clips marker. Ben Brar, in his first game with the Spruce Kings, and Tyler Anderson rounded out the PG scoring.
The Chilliwack Chiefs fired 43 shots on goal and got two tallies from Jordan Kawaguchi in a 6-2 victory over the visiting Cowichan Valley Capitals. Kawaguchi opened the scoring and after Justin Dixson made it 2-0 in the second, Kawaguchi added the winner. Jared Domin got the Caps on the board in the second but Chilliwack added three more in the third with Carver Watson, Tommy Lee and Kale Kane doing the damage. Ben Verrall had the other Cowichan goal. Mark Sinclair made 28 saves for the win.
Riley Rysling scored twice and set up another in a 7-2 Penticton Vees win over the host Coquitlam Express. Ty Amonte, Matt Gosiewski and Rysling scored in the first, providing all the goals the Vees would need. Nic Jones and Risling added on in the second and Ty Barnstable made it 6-0 before Erik Udahl got the Express on the board. Gabe Bast, with his first goal of the season, and Cal Babych traded tallies after that.
