SALMON ARM- In the opening frame of the second of back-to-back games between the Silverbacks and the Warriors started the same as last night. Again, it was the Warriors opening the scoring. Defenceman Charles-Alexis Legault activated in from the point and tipped a shot over the shoulder of Silverbacks Goaltender Owen Say, who was making his preseason debut in goal. Say stopped 7 of 8 in the opening frame. The Silverbacks responded on the scoresheet with the top line. Who else but Simon Tassy, last year’s pod leader in goals. He was the benefactor of a broken play that the Warriors blueline and backhanded the puck home to tie it at one apiece. The Silverbacks struck again in the dying seconds of the first period. Again with the top line, this time it was Mat Bourgault, who was the recipient of an excellent feed from Noah Serdachny, making it 2-1 Backs. Salmon Arm outshot the West Kelowna 12-8 in the opening 20.
The Backs got off to a great start in the middle frame; Daniel Panetta pounced on a loose puck off a point shot from Tucker Hartmann, making it 3-1 Silverbacks…. Then everything broke loose. After Owen Beckner was crosschecked in the back by Carter Schmidt, he was crosschecked again by Alexi Van Houtte-Cachero. Backs’ forward Aiden Lindblad didn’t like that one bit and stuck up for his fallen linemate. This led to Matta and Van Houtte Cachero dropping the gloves, and the two threw a couple of punches and wrestled each other to the ice. After a lengthy delay, four players got ejected and put the Silverbacks on the power play. Unfortunately, they were unable to convert. The Silverbacks got into penalty trouble late in the second period with two late penalties but killed them both off. Owen Say was perfect in the middle frame stopping all eight shots he faced. The Backs held the advantage in the shot department 20-16 after 40 minutes of play.
The Backs’ began the final period shorthanded for the first 15 seconds and successfully killed it off. Again, it was a parade to the penalty box, as seven penalties were assessed in the final frame. Credit to the Backs penalty killers, they’ve been awfully busy the last couple of games, killing off 12/13 in the three preseason games. The Silverbacks got a big insurance goal when Panetta made a beautiful pass backdoor to Bourgault, and he made no mistake depositing his second of the night in the back of the net to give the Silverbacks a 4-1 lead. The Warriors added a late goal on a squibber by Rubin that snuck under the pads on Say to cut the lead in half.
With the win, the Silverbacks improve to 2-1 in the preseason; they will be in action Tuesday night when the Vernon Vipers come to town. Puck drop is 7:00 PM.
