SALMON ARM, BC- Noah Sercahny scored the game-winning goal with 55 seconds left in overtime, as the Salmon Arm Silverbacks erased a 4-1 deficit to steal a 5-4 victory from the Vernon Vipers. Owen Say stopped 28/32 in goal.
It was a back and forth affair in the opening period, with many scoring chances on both sides. The Vipers nearly got on the board two minutes into the hockey game. Forward Ryan Shostak found himself wide open in front of Silverbacks goaltender Owen Say, but Say went post to post to rob him on the doorstep to keep it scoreless. That same shift, the Backs had a chance of their own, but Mat Bourgault’s shot went off the side of the net. Then, JoJo Tanaka-Campbell ripped a shot under the glove of Say to make it 1-0. The Silverbacks outshot the Vipers 9-8.
The Vipers began the second period on the powerplay, as Lucas Matta served his slashing penalty. It didn’t take the vipers long at all to cash in just 1:23 into the middle frame as Griffen Barr feathered a seam pass right on the tape of Jack Tonelli and he beat Say up and under the bar to make it 2-0 Vipers. Then just 19 seconds later, the Vipers defenceman Nick Kent let go a point shot, and it bounced five feet in front of Say and took a mean hop and went over the glove making it 3-0. The Silverbacks picked up their physicality In the second, and they seemed to gain some momentum from it. Simon Tassy picked up the puck and flew down the right side, made a nice toe drag around the defender and snapped a shot under the glove of Ethan David, snapping his lengthy shutout streak and cutting the lead to two. The Vipers, though, would answer after a Santa Juana tripping penalty they only needed 15 seconds to strike. Jacob Lorenz tipped a shot past Say to make it 4-1. But credit to the Backs, they stuck with it. Daniel Panetta ripped a shot five-hole on David to cut the lead in half heading into the third period.
In the third period, the Silverbacks came to life. Forty-eight seconds into the period Lyndon Hanvold, who was playing his first regular-season game since getting hurt in the preseason, shot a puck through traffic, and it was tipped by Brandon Santa Juana to cut the lead to one. The Silverbacks continued to press, and with 7:07 left in the third, the Silverbacks tied the game. Noah Serdachny fed a beautiful pass backdoor to a streaking Simon Tassy, and he directed it home to tie the game at four. The goal was Tassy’s second of the night and 10th of the campaign. The rest of regulation solved nothing, and we needed overtime.
For the second consecutive game against each other extra time was needed. Late in the overtime, Lucas Matta was upended by Vipers captain JoJo Tanaka-Campbell, putting the Silverbacks on a 4 on 3 powerplays for the remainder of the overtime. With 55 seconds left in the extra frame, Tassy fed a pass to Serdachny, and he wired it under the bar to complete the comeback and give the Silverbacks a come-from-behind 5-4 victory for their 5th straight victory. With the win, the silverbacks improve to 7-0-1 on the year, the Vipers, on the other hand, fall to 3-3-3 on the year. The Silverbacks will be back in action Friday night when the Merritt Centennials visit the Shaw Centre.
