SALMON ARM, BC- The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (7-0-1) are coming into tonight’s game against the winless Merritt Centennials (0-9-0) off the heels of an emotional 5-4 come-from-behind overtime victory against the Vernon Vipers. They erased a 4-2 deficit in the third period to stun the Vipers in overtime. At one point, they trailed 4-1, but if there is one thing we learned about the Backs in the Pod season, they are a resilient group and do not back down from a challenge. Daniel Panetta’s late second-period goal seemed to be a turning point for the Backs, as they came out flying in the third period scoring 48 seconds in on Brandon. Santa Juana’s 4th of the year. Tassy deadlocked the game at four with 7:37 left in the hockey game, and Noah Serdachny completed the comeback on a 4 on 3 powerplay with 55 seconds left in the extra frame. Tonight is the second meeting between the Backs and the Cents; they clashed in Merritt to kick the regular season off October 9th. The Backs took a 3-1 decision; Aiden Lidblad scored his first BCHL goal in that contest. The Backs sit atop the Interior Division with a 7-0-1 record and have won a BCHL best five in a row. Simon Tassy and Noah Serdachny have stayed red hot with 27 points combined in eight games. Serdachny sits 5th in the league, scoring with 14 points, while Tassy sits 6th with 13. Owen Say continued his strong play to begin the season. He currently holds a 6-0-1 record on the season with a 2.54 GAA and a .898 SV%. Say was the recipient of a couple unlucky bounces Wednesday night against Vernon, but he responded well, shutting the door in the third and allowing the Silverbacks to come back to win the game.
On the other side, it’s been nothing short of a disaster start for the Merritt Centennials. They are still searching for their first win of the season, and their last time out was an ugly 8-0 thumping at the hands of the Cranbook Bucks. Defenceman Talon Zakall, and forward Jerzy Orchard have led the way for the Cents with seven points in nine games. The centennials are in the midst of a four-game road trip. They will head to West Kelowna and Trail before returning home on November 12th to host the Coquitlam Express.
Puck drop tonight is set for 7:00, with the pregame show kicking off at 6:45 PM.
