Game 30: Merritt at Trail

Been busy so no time for a game preview. The big news today is of course that David Arduin has been traded to Westside for Chris Santiago and futures. I think the trade was reported on the BCHL website in record time. Within minutes the players were on new rosters online and the trade was posted in transactions. From my understanding this just happened at around 1pm this afternoon and it was up there almost instantly.

I'll have more on the Arduin trade either later tonight or tomorrow. Needless to say it's a huge shake up and it'll be hard not to miss a guy like that. We'll see how the boys respond!

Saturday, December 1rst, 2007: Merritt (7-18-0-5) at Trail (14-13-0-2)

(Click here for the box score)

Cents are coming off a 3-1 win against Trail last night. Smokies outshot them 44-29 but Merrit did what they had to do to win. Smokies are a man short today with Arduin gone and Santiago couldn't make it in time for the game. He apparently really tried but couldn't get here.

I'm doing the man in the stands for Mountain FM today. Any fans who ever want a gift certificate all you have to do is talk to me over the air for a few seconds. It's easy as pie!

LIVE GAME UPDATES

...Paul Barclay getting the start today and Merritt gets on the board first and early. Ruud has been a Smokie killer in the games the two teams have played and he scored 32 seconds in from Zalba who was terrific yesterday as well. Smokies rebounded later in the period. Ourosov made a really nice move in front to tie the game. Later Ryan Hill picked a good time to pinch, made a nice move and threw the puck in from for Ryan Bulach who made no mistake. Bulach is going to be relied upon even more now that Arduin is gone. I think he's capable of taking some of those minutes. Shots 12-11 Trail.

...Second period was another good one for the Smoke Eaters. Corcoran scored short handed on a rebound from Shade's shot. That's always a big lift for the team. Those are two vets who will have to pick up some of Arduin's scoring as well. Merritt cuts the lead to 1 on a really nice rush by Halliday. He sort of strong armed Westover to keep a hold of the puck and put it top corner. August Aiken scored a ridiculous goal to give Trail a 4-2 lead. Just terrific moves. Does he now have the most pure skill on this team? 16-11 shots for Merritt but Barclay had a really strong period.

...Yikes. Third period is not going Trail's way. They've got to do a better job with leads as this third period was similar to the ones in Merritt a few weeks ago. Cents score three goals and take a 5-4 lead. Gehon, Ruud and Koopman get the goals. Gehon with points on all three of them. Some trouble clearing the zone on each goal and it looks like on the last one Barclay was completely screened. Smokies (as they often do) answered right back. Mailey scored his first of the year and it was a huge goal. One thing about Trail is they don't let a little adversity get them down. If they do blow a lead, they often fight back to tie the game and sometimes get he win. 2 minutes left now and chances for both sides. Could see overtime. Great determined rush by Limbert with a minute to play draws a late penalty. He just put his head down and wasn't going to be stopped forcing the Cents to go to the box. Koopman gets the holding call. We're going to OT. Power play will carry over and be a 4 on 3 for 1:17. Shots 9-9 and 36-32 for Merritt tonight. Trail unfortunately lets Merritt at least get one point out of a game where they were up 4-2, but showed good determination in tying the game back up and we'll see what happens now.

...Overtime solves nothing. Each team had their chances, but Mainprize and Barclay shut the door. Smokies hit the post in the final minute of 3 on 3. Smokies outshot Merritt 9-4 in the OT for a total of 41-40 Trail. How rare is it for a team to put up 85 shots in two games and only get a tie out of it? Keep doing that and you'll win more often than not. They'll walk away from this back to back home series against Merritt with only 1 out of 4 points. The recent home stand is now over and Trail goes 2-3-1 in 6 games. If I had told you that they'd only win 2 of 6 games I bet you'd never have guessed the wins would be against Salmon Arm and Penticton. This Interior Conference is just getting more and more competitive right now.

Merritt isn't playing like a last place team anymore. They've added talent and they're going to start challenging for a better spot in the standings. It's up to teams like Trail to prove that they deserve to be in the playoffs over the next couple of months.

FINAL SCORE: Trail 5 Merritt 5