Ross Heidt opened the scoring with his 18th of the season at 2:38. The Vipers tied the game 1-1 at 5:03, Christian Cakebread’s sixth on the power-play with Elijiah Barriga off for slashing. Chase Zieky’s 11th increased the lead to 2-1 at 9:16, and on the power-play with Brett Stapley penalized for hooking. Less than a minute later, Heidt potted his second of the game and 19th of the season to put the home team ahead 3-1 at 10:10. Josh Laframboise’s eighth made the score 4-1 Silverbacks at 17:35, another power-play marker with Mitchell Oliver off for hooking. Carson Bolduc scored the final goal of the first period and the final goal of the game, his eighth to make the score 5-1 with the man-advantage at 19:24 as Odeen Tufto was penalized for goaltender interference.
The Silverbacks outshot the Vipers 24-11 in the first frame, and 12-9 ‘Backs in the middle period. The Vipers lead 8-7 on the shot clock in third but the Silverbacks finished ahead 43-28 total. The second and third periods included each team penalized five times. The Silverbacks finished three-for-six on the power-play and three-for-four on the penalty-kill.
The two teams meet again tonight, at 6p.m. in Vernon with the ‘Backs now leading the season series 2-0 after a 6-2 win in Vernon on Wednesday, October 28th.
The Silverbacks remain second in the Interior Division with 37 points, three ahead of the West Kelowna Warriors who won 6-4 on the road versus the Surrey Eagles (5-22). The Vipers are still fourth, and now six points back of the Warriors and six up on the Trail Smoke Eaters (11-15-0-0) who also won on the road, 4-2 over the Wenatchee Wild (16-8-2-2). The Merritt Centennials (9-19-0-2) sit sixth in the division, only two points behind the Smoke Eaters as the Cents got by the Langley Rivermen 2-1 in the Lower Mainland. The Penticton Vees (25-2-0-0) were idle on Friday night and host the Smoke Eaters tonight at 6p.m., the Vees lead the division by 13 points over the ‘Backs. The Warriors play in Langley tonight at 6p.m.
