PHOTO: TAMI QUAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (5-3-3) will play their sixth game in eight days on Wednesday night when they face the West Kelowna Warriors (5-3-2) for the sixth time this season.
The Backs are coming off a 5-2 loss to Vernon on Tuesday, while the Warriors beat the Vipers 2-1 in a shootout in their last contest on Monday.
Tonight’s game has a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
Season H2H
| Date | Score | Record | Goalie |
| April 3 | 2-1 L | 0-1-0 | Say 38/40 |
| April 8 | 4-3 OTW | 1-1-0 | Say 31/34 |
| April 11 | 5-3 W | 2-1-0 | Say 32/35 |
| April 15 | 6-4 W | 3-1-0 | Vanderkooi 25/29 |
| April 18 | 6-5 SOW | 4-1-0 | Say 27/32 |
Us
Get Back to the Offensive Tenacity: Vernon didn’t give up much in their own end on Tuesday. Or, if you view it another way, the Silverbacks didn’t work hard enough in the offensive zone to earn that ice. On Wednesday, that’ll be a focus.
“We’ve embraced the hard way in a lot of aspects of our game in terms of how hard our forecheck is, the expectations we have for our guys transitioning from offence to defence, the way our defensive zone has been, and I just think we need to translate some of that work into our offence and get to the dirty areas,” Backs assistant coach Carter Cochrane said after Tuesday’s loss. “You’re going to take hacks and whacks along the way, but they feel a lot better when you get a goal next to your name and your team gets a win.”
Special Teams Vital: The Silverbacks went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill on Tuesday and they’ll need both that same discipline and effectiveness on Wednesday going up against a Warriors power play that has so far gone 6-for-19 against Salmon Arm this season.
Them
Derrick Still Hot: Goaltender Johnny Derrick made 42 saves on 44 shots in a 3-2 win over the Vipers on April 16 and then he stopped 32 of 33 in a 2-1 shootout victory over the Vipers on Monday night. With a day off Tuesday, it’d be surprising for him not to get the net on Wednesday.
Streak Snapped: Young defenceman Tyson Jugnauth had his six-game point streak snapped on Monday against Vernon. He had two goals and eight assists during those six games.
Leading Scorers
Backs:
Points – Noah Serdachny (16)
Goals – Sullivan Mack & Simon Tassy (7)
Assists – Noah Serdachny (10)
Wins – Owen Say (4)
SV% – Owen Say (.892)
Warriors:
Points – Marcus Joughin (13)
Goals – Carter Wilkie (7)
Assists – Marcus Joughin & Tyson Jugnauth (9)
Wins – Johnny Derrick (3)
SV% – Johnny Derrick (.916)
Special Teams
Backs:
PP – 18.2% (9th) / PK – 65.7% (16th)
Warriors:
PP – 29.7% (3rd) / PK – 82.1% (7th)
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: TUCKER HARTMANN
Hartmann scored his first BCHL goal on Tuesday night and has four points in his last five games. The rookie has looked good so far in his first 11 BCHL regular season games.
While Hartmann is certainly not the biggest defenceman, the Yale commit has a high hockey IQ and moves the puck well. He can also be sneaky effective in the offensive zone when he times his pinches well.
WARRIORS: MACRUS JOUGHIN
Joughin had two goals the last time these two teams met and currently leads West Kelowna with 13 points. He has at least a point in each of the five games against the Backs this season.
Tune In
As always, all games will be streamed live on BCHL TV, with the Braby Motors pre-game show getting underway at 7:15 p.m.
