SALMON ARM, BC- The Salmon Arm Silverbacks will welcome the Cranbrook Bucks to town for their first-ever meeting in the BCHL tonight at the Shaw Centre for a 6:00 PM Puck drop. Cranbrook, an expansion team last year, did not play the Backs due to the pod season. The Backs were in a Pod with a Kelowna and Vernon. While the Bucks were in a Pod with Penticton and Trail. The Backs are riding high winners of seven games in a row and are coming off winning three games in four nights a week ago. They defeated the Vipers 5-4 in OT, drilled the Merritt Centennials 7-2, travelled to Coquitlam, and squeezed out a 4-3 SO victory to improve to 9-0-1 on the season, and most importantly, first in the Interior Division.
Players to Watch:
Owen Say: Say is coming off a 40 save performance against the Express to improve to 7-0-1 on the season. Say also just recently committed to play NCAA Division I hockey at Mercyhurst University. This season Say is near the top of most goaltending statistics and has been a horse for the Backs starting in eight of the team’s first ten contests.
Backs Top Line: Production wise, this has been one of the BCHL’s best lines in so far early this season. Mat Bourgault, Noah Serdachny, and Simon Tassy have a combined 43 points in 10 games and show no signs of showing down. Serdachny and Tassy sit 5th and 6th respectively in league scoring.
Lyndon Hanvold: Hanvold has played three games this season; he was injured at the end of the preseason and is slowly getting acclimated into regular-season action. Hanvold has a lone assist on the season.
A Look At The Opposition
The Bucks are coming into tonight’s game with a 6-5 record on the season and sit 6th in the Interior Division. So far in November, the Bucks are 2-2 and are in Salmon arm for the first of a back-to-back. They are led by Tyson Dyck, Noah Quinn, and Luke Pfoh upfront, each over a point game clip. Nathan Airey has been a rock for this team, like Say starting nine of eleven games. Airey has a 4-4 record his season with a 2.89 GAA and a .905 SV%
