Image Credit: KIJHL

By Victor Kaisar

Merritt Centennials Wrap

Cents end inaugural KIJHL season after first-round playoff defeat to defending champion Grizzlies

Mar 8, 2025 | 9:56 AM

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — The Merritt Centennials inaugural season in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) has come to an end.

The Cents were beaten 3-1 by the Revelstoke Grizzlies in game five of the Bill Olhausen Division Semi-Finals Friday (March 7). The Grizzlies, who are defending Teck Cup champions, took the best-of-seven series four games to one.

Dylan Ruff stuck first for the Cents in the must-win game at the Revelstoke Forum. The North Vancouver native scored at 6:23 of the second period, as the Cents took the slim 1-0 lead into the final intermission.

But the Grizzlies found a way back into the game with three unanswered goals in the third period. Jett Patola scored shorthanded at 2:33, Kieran Keilly scored the series winner at 14:12, while Patola added the empty netter in the final minute for good measure.

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Merritt finished the regular season with a 26-12-3-2 record, which was good for 57 points from 44 games. It had them third in the Bill Ohlhausen Division, 12 points behind the Grizzlies. Merritt finished with near identical records at home and on the road – as they were 13-6-2-1 at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena and 13-7-1-1 on the road.

The Cents were led by two 18-year-old forwards – Sam Giangualano, who finished with 25 goals and 53 points in 41 games, and Steven Foster, who added 24 goals and 52 points in 42 games.

Giangualano also led all skaters in playoff scoring with four assists in five games, while Maxim Radmanovich, the overtime hero in game four, had two goals and three points in five games.

In net, 18-year-old Mathis Perron finished with a 15-5 record in 21 games, a 2.87 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. Andrew Krakora, 19, was 11-8-3 in 25 games, and boasted a 2.42 goals against average and a .931 save percentage.

Perron picked up the only Cents playoff win, and finished 1-1 with a 2.10 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. Krakora, who started the first three games, went 0-3 with a 4.15 goals against average and a .886 save percentage.

KIJHL Wrap

With the win over Merritt, the Grizzlies will now face the Ohlhausen Division-winning Princeton Posse in the second round of playoffs. Princeton got by Sicamous four games to one as well, after a 5-3 win over the Eagles in game five Friday.

The Kamloops Storm are also through to the second round of playoffs after a four-game sweep of the Quesnel River Rush in their Doug Birks Division Semi-Final series.

The Storm await the winner of the series between the 100 Mile House Wranglers and Williams Lake Mustangs. The Wranglers can close things out in Williams Lake tonight, after a 4-3 win in game five last night.

Kamloops will have home-ice advantage if the Mustangs make the second-round of playoffs. They will begin on the road though if the Wranglers make it, as 100 Mile House won the Doug Birks Division by three points.