Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (8-5-3) will look to build off Saturday’s momentum when they take on the West Kelowna Warriors (6-7-2) on Sunday at Kal Tire Place.
The Backs are coming off a 6-2 win over the Vernon Vipers, while the Warriors were edged 3-2 by Vernon on Friday night.
Today’s game has a 4 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 |
| April 21 | 5-2 W | 5-1-0 | Vanderkooi 26/28 |
| April 25 | 3-0 L | 5-2-0 | Say 21/23 |
Us
More of the Same: When asked what the Backs need to do to be successful against the Warriors on Sunday, assistant coach Carter Cochrane only uttered four words: “More of the same.”
The Backs played bigger, faster and stronger than the Vipers on Saturday and that’s what they need to do on Sunday as well. Impose their will physically and then let the skill take over. Without that first part on Saturday, the goals don’t flow like they did.
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way: Salmon Arm scored in many different ways on Saturday: one shorthanded goal, one power play goal and four at even-strength. They also got goals from six different players.
Step Forward for Special Teams: On Saturday, the Backs power play went 1-for-3, scoring for the first time in five games. The penalty kill was very good and went 2-for-2.
Them
Last Time Out: The West Kelowna Warriors got out to a 2-0 lead in their last game, only to see the Vernon Vipers claw back and win the game 3-2 this past Friday. Forward Zach Brooks had a really good opportunity to tie the game with the goaltender pulled for the extra attacker, but goaltender Roan Clarke shut the door.
The last time the Backs and Warriors faced off, West Kelowna beat a tired Silverbacks squad 3-0. It’s their only win in the past five games. They’ve been out-scored 19-7 in those five games.
Tough to Create Offence: The Warriors haven’t topped 30 shots in a game since April 19 (six games ago). On Friday, they only managed 17 shots on goal. They’ve averaged 23.6 shots on goal per game over their last five and have scored eight goals in regulation in their last six games. West Kelowna has been playing with nine forwards for a few games in a row now due to injuries up front and a suspension to captain Elan Bar Lev Wise (who returns today).
Leading Scorers
Backs:
Points – Noah Serdachny (23)
Goals – Simon Tassy (13)
Assists – Noah Serdachny (17)
Wins – Owen Say (6)
G.A.A. – Owen Say (2.86)
SV% – Owen Say (.904)
Warriors:
Points – Carter Wilkie (14)
Goals – Carter Wilkie (8)
Assists – Marcus Joughin & Tyson Jugnauth (9)
Wins – Johnny Derrick (3)
G.A.A. – Zach Bennett (3.12)
SV% – Johnny Derrick (.909)
Special Teams
Backs:
PP – 20% (6th) / PK – 68.8% (16th)
Warriors:
PP – 24.5% (4th) / PK – 82.4% (8th)
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: BRADEN FISCHER
Fischer scored his first in the BCHL on Saturday — a goal off a rebound that made it 3-1 and gave Salmon Arm some breathing room.
“You can watch the clip back and I’m sure the audio probably picked up what our bench sounded like and just his teammates how they mauled him there — no one deserves it more than Fischy. He works so hard and tonight he was able to put it all together and was able to chip in offensively and get that first one, which is huge. He’s not the most physically imposing player, but if you watched any time a Vernon player had the puck and he was around, he was finishing checks, he was in good positions and he scores a goal just getting to the hardest area of the ice and burying a rebound.”
WARRIORS: ELAN BAR LEV WISE
The Warriors captain will be making his return to the lineup after serving a nine-game suspension.
Tune In
As always, all games will be streamed live on BCHL TV, with the Braby Motors pre-game show getting underway at 3:45 p.m.
