The Langley Rivermen will look to extend their winning streak to five games when they welcome the Merritt Centennials to the Langley Events Centre tonight. The Riv are fresh off a 4-1 win last night over the Prince George Spruce Kings and have won three straight on this current five game home stand, which ends tomorrow night. In the standings, the Rivermen are 16-11-0-0 and are just four points back of Wentachee for second place and five back of Chilliwack for first in the Mainland Division. The Rivermen have made the LEC a tough place for opponents to play at of late with a 5-2-0-0 home record this month and have scored a total of 34 goals in the seven home games.
A main reason for the Rivermen’s success of late is the balanced scoring attack. During this four game winning streak, 18 goals has been scored as a team, with 11 different skaters hitting the score sheet. The goaltending and defensive play has been stellar as well, with Bo Didur and Nick Trenciansky only allowing a combined five goals in the last three games.
With regards to the opponent, halfway through the 2015-16 season, the Centennials have struggled with an 8-19-0-2 record and currently sit last in the Interior Division. They have been going through a tough stretch of late, with their winless streak currently at six games coming into this evening. Scoring goals has not been an issue for the ‘Cents, but keeping pucks out of the net has. They enter with a -34 goal differential and are coming off an 11-8 loss to the Surrey Eagles on Wednesday night. They are led offensively by 18 year-old forward Colin Grannary who has 17 goals and 17 assists for 34 points in 29 games. The ‘Cents power play has been a bright spot this season operating at an even 20% clip and have three skaters (Nick Jermain, Colin Grannary, and Gavin Gould) who have scored at least five goals on the man advantage this year.
“As a group, we have a good idea of what we can expect from them tonight. Although it was not their whole team, we did face them twice in exhibition and know they have some dangerous players that can do damage,” said Rivermen Head Coach and General Manager Bobby Henderson.
Game time is at 7:15pm at the Langley Events Centre. This will be the first of two meetings of the season between the Riv and ‘Cents. Langley will visit Nicola Valley Arena on January 29.
