Game 7 broke the trends

Until game seven, the first team to score between the Merritt Centennials and the Penticton Vees' Interior division semi-finals won each game in that series.

Then early into game seven, just over a minute, the Vees missed a check and the puck went into their net, which could have spelled doom for the team – not only for that game, but for the series and the team's BCHL playoffs this season.

Instead, head coach Fred Harbinson says that may have been a sobering moment for the Vees, who ended the Centennials' playoff season with a 6-2 win on Monday.

"The key pushback moment would have been a couple minutes later with Ward going behind the net and hitting Buckley and you could kind of, you felt the air come out of them with that hit," Harbinson said in this week's Vees' View with Coach Harbinson. "All of a sudden, life got pushed into us, and a couple minutes later, we got a power play, we score."

That goal may have been the product of pointed practice, as the Vees had been working on their power plays the day before, according to Harbinson.

"I think from that point on our guys just, they were relentless in their push," he said.

Game seven had another unique quality to it, compared to the rest of the series. The Vees and the Centennials had a combined eight goals on Monday, double most other games in that series.

"There was a lot of really good things done by our group and we have to make sure we continue that going into the next round," Harbinson said.