Team Sites
Follow the BCHL
BCHL

Adams, Wolford Propel Backs to Massive 3-2 Win Over Eagles

Surrey, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks broke a four-game slide on Sunday afternoon after they took down the Surrey Eagles 3-2 at South Surrey Arena.

Salmon Arm’s record now stands at 24-20-4, now one point ahead of Vernon for third place in the Interior Division. The Vipers have 51 points and are in fourth, while the Wild are in fifth with 50 points.

GAME SUMMARY

This one was a back and forth affair right from the get go. Each goaltender — Grant Adams for the Backs and Reece Klassen for the Eagles — established their game early on.

The Backs opened the scoring on a power play at the 15:30 mark of the first period courtesy of Nick Unruh, who fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle on the right side that beat Klassen for his 11th of the season.

The Backs were out-shot 17-11 in the first, but Adams kept them up 1-0.

In the second period, the goaltenders both stood tall. Klassen made some big stops on a Silverback power play, but Adams was also tested on a shorthanded breakaway for the Eagles, where he made the splits and stopped Christian Fitzgerald with his left pad.

The Eagles got a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play with just under four minutes to go in the period and converted after Brandon Santa Juana found the loose puck in front and roofed it to tie the game 1-1.

With under two minutes to go in the second, Adams made a phenomenal post-to-post pad save on Jimmy Darby to keep the game tied.

The lone even-strength goal of the game was scored 5:39 into the third period, after Noah Wakeford swept home a loose puck behind Klassen following a Lucas Breault backhander to put the Backs up by one once more.

Things began to heat up between the teams as the third period went on and eventually Zach Gabruch was called for holding with 5:50 remaining in the game. On the ensuing power play, the Eagles capitalized courtesy of former Silverback forward Hudson Schandor, with the Eagles captaining banking one in from below the goal-line.

It didn’t remain tied for long, however, as the Backs drew a hooking penalty just a couple minutes later. Rookie forward Coalson Wolford was able to shovel home a rebound after a Hunter Sansbury point shot to put the Silverbacks up 3-2 with just 1:58 remaining in the game.

The Eagles pulled the goaltender but could not pull even, as the 3-2 final held up.

For the full boxscore, click here.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Silverbacks have a home-and-home with the Merritt Centennials next weekend, hosting them on Friday Jan. 31 and then heading on the road on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Both games can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game shows starting at 6:30 p.m. and puck drop set for 7 p.m. Fans can also stream the game on HockeyTV.