Victoria is missing five of their best players. Alex Newhook, Alexander Campbell, Riley Hughes, Carter Berger, and Jermaine Bucheler were all selected to Team Canada West with the World Junior A Challenge. It’s good news for the Grizzlies, but also for Salmon Arm to take on a team who leads the league in goals scored, but are missing five players who have combined for 197 points and 69 goals.
This season against the Grizzlies, Salmon Arm is 1-0-1. They beat Victoria in the Showcase, and lost in overtime at home. In both games the Grizzlies have scored three goals, while Salmon Arm scored six in the showcase and two at home.
He missed the second meeting against the Grizzlies having been injured the night before, but Justin Wilson went off at the Showcase putting up five points against the Island team. He had two goals and three assists for five points which was a career high. Since returning from injury, the 20 year old has three goals and three assists. Wilson has 18 points in 13 games, and sits seventh in team scoring. He is one points away from 4th on the team as three players on the Silverbacks have 18 points.
Last night in Powell River, the Silverbacks started their roadtrip with a 3-2 win in Hap Parker Arena. Noah Wakeford had his first multi-goal game of the season and second of his career while Wilson scored on the power play for the winner. With the result last night, Salmon Arm is 4-0-1 against Island Division teams. Victoria had a third period comeback against the Cowichan Valley Capitals beating their divisional rival 5-3 after going down 3-1 after two periods of play.
Tonight marks the second game of the Silverbacks three game weekend on the road. They will wrap things up in Surrey tomorrow taking on the Eagles at 4pm at the South Surrey Arena.
Players to Watch:
Silverbacks: Mentioned earlier, Justin Wilson had himself a game the first meeting with Victoria. He scored on his first shift of the game enroute to a five point performance. He is coming off a two point performance last night and now has 18 points in just 13 games. We touched on Andy Stevens for last night’s game, and tonight look for Sam MacBean. In 30 games this season he has five points which equals his total offensive output in 58 games last year. MacBean is getting time in all situations from five on five, to power play, to penalty where his long reach excels.
Victoria: One familiar look for Salmon Arm will be in the Grizzlies net. Kyle Dumba is a former Silverback and while the Silverbacks have a lot of new faces this season, will still be familiar with a large portion of the roster. With so many offensive weapons out of the lineup it will be interesting to see if the regular secondary scoring can handle the new matchups with the Silverbacks top shutdown players. One player that jumped to mind is Marty Westhaver. The veteran is one of three players playing tonight with double digits in goals.
