The Silverbacks begin the fourth week of November with a record of 16-6-2-1, still second in the Interior Divison and tied for third overall in the BCHL. The ‘Backs have moved up in the national Junior Hockey League rankings from 18th last week, to 17th this week.
The Silverbacks scored 10 goals in one game at home this past weekend with a 10-1 victory over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (10-13-1-1) on Friday, November 20th at the Shaw Centre.
The ‘Backs then travelled north on Saturday, November 21st for the second and final regular season meeting with the Prince George Spruce Kings (7-18-0-2).
The Silverbacks opened the scoring and held three of the four leads on Saturday night, but fell 4-3 in Prince George.
Josh Laframboise’s seventh of the season opened the scoring at 8:41 of period one. The home team tied the score 1-1 with 58 seconds remaining in the opening period. The Spruce Kings outshot the Silverbacks 11-5 in the first frame.
Taro Hirose’s fifth restored the Silverbacks lead just 1:09 into the middle period and on the power-play, 2-1 ‘Backs. Prince George evened the score, 2-2 on the power-play at 11:19 with Cam Coutre off for tripping. The ‘Backs outshot the Spruce Kings 17-9 in period two.
Colton Thibault’s 15th of the season, a power-play marker put the Silverbacks back in front 3-2 just 2:16 into the final frame.
But the Spruce Kings went onto tie the game 3-3 at 12:48 and deposited the game winner at 14:06. Both power-play goals, 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 less than 80 seconds apart with Damian Chrcek in the box for Interference and Mike Winnitoy off for high-sticking.
The ‘Backs finished two-for-five with the man-advantage and five-for-eight on the penalty-kill, with five of the seven goals in the game scored on the power-play.
The Silverbacks outshot the Spruce Kings 14-8 in the third and 36-28 ‘Backs total, as Brandon Kegler is now four-and-three in eight games. Both Angus Redmond and Nick Hutchison sat out this past weekend with injuries.
The Silverbacks fell 4-3 to Spruce Kings on Sunday, October 11th in Salmon Arm. The ‘Backs are now 3-4-2-0 versus the Mainland Division.
The Silverbacks still sit second in the Interior Division and are tied for third overall in the BCHL with the Chilliwack Chiefs (16-6-1-2). The Penticton Vees (24-2-0-0) had their win streak end at 23 games on Friday night and on the road versus the Langley Rivermen (15-11-0-0). The Vees allowed two goals in the final 80 seconds of the third period and lost 4-2 in Langley. Penticton hadn’t lost since opening night, 4-2 to the Silverbacks in Salmon Arm in the division rivals only regular season meeting to date. The ‘Backs and Vees won’t meet next until Friday, December 11th at 7p.m. at the Shaw Centre in game one of a back-to-back home-and-home set. The Silverbacks are five points in front of the West Kelowna Warriors (14-9-0-2) and eight points ahead of the Vernon Vipers (13-13-0-1) who occupy fourth in Interior Division.
The ‘Backs next action will be on Friday, November 27th as they begin a home-and-home set with the Vipers at 7p.m. in Salmon Arm. The Vipers will then host the Silverbacks on Saturday, November 28th at 6p.m. in Vernon.
Each Silverbacks and BCHL game is webcast live, PPV http://bchl.fasthockey.com as well as each ‘Backs road game is broadcast live at CKVS 93.7 FM http://voiceoftheshuswap.ca Each home game is broadcast at http://bit.ly/1s0deO7 Tune into CKVS each Monday night throughout the season beginning at 7p.m. for 30 minutes or more of Silverbacks talk, including interviews and news from around the BCHL.
