PHOTO: TAMI QUAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (9-5-3) will battle the West Kelowna Warriors (6-9-2) for the second straight game on Wednesday night at Kal Tire Place in Vernon.
The Backs beat West Kelowna three nights ago by a 4-1 score.
Salmon Arm controls their own fate as they head into the final week of the 2020-21 pod season: they’ll clinch first by winning their final three games, regardless of what happens between their other two opponents. Two of their final games are against the Warriors (tonight and Saturday), while the other is against the Vernon Vipers (Friday).
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 |
| April 21 | 5-2 W | 5-1-0 | Vanderkooi 26/28 |
| April 25 | 3-0 L | 5-2-0 | Say 21/23 |
| May 2 | 4-1 W | 6-2-0 | Say 32/33 |
Us
Control Our Own Fate: The Silverbacks have put themselves in a position where they control their own destiny, which is exactly what you want. It won’t be easy, as they’ll need to win all three games to guarantee first place, but they are pretty much right where they need to be and appear to be peaking at the right time.
“We’ve done a really good job here in the last three games — and the whole pod — of putting ourselves in this situation where it all comes down to us. The last thing you want to be doing is sitting and hoping for a team to lose or a team to win. It never really pans out,” Silverbacks head coach Tyler Shattock said. “So win three games — we just did it… and we’ve just got to win three more again. We’ve shown we can do it. I don’t think that’s out of the grasp for our group.”
PK Coming Along: The Backs penalty kill is 11-for-12 in the last five games. That 91.7% is obviously strong, but so is the discipline of only being shorthanded 2.5 times per game in that span. This season, Salmon Arm has been shorthanded the least amount of times of all 16 teams (tied with Victoria at 50).
“I think both are equally impressive…The PK we’ve got a little bit more aggressive. I think our guys like the aggressive nature of things,” Shattock said. “Then the discipline… just comes from how we’ve played. We’ve carried the play a lot of the time and we play a real puck possession type of game when we get in the offensive zone. That doesn’t give a lot of time to take penalties.”
Say It Ain’t So: On Monday, Backs goaltender Owen Say was named the BCHL Player of the Week ending May 2 after winning all three starts last week, stopping 93 of 97 shots he faced for a stellar .959 SV%.
Them
Last Time Out: The West Kelowna Warriors dropped their fourth consecutive game on Monday, losing a tight one 2-1 to the Vernon Vipers. It was the seventh consecutive game they had been outshot and 13th time this season they had been outshot.
Tough to Create Offence: The Warriors were held to just 22 shots on Monday versus Vernon. They have scored just 10 goals in their last eight games. They got key forwards Marcus Joughin and Elan Bar Lev Wise back from injury the past two games, but the team has still only scored once in each of those contests.
This & That
- Backs forward Simon Tassy leads the BCHL in goals with 15 & ranks sixth in points with 24. He has 11 goals in his last eight games.
- Backs forward Noah Serdachny is tied for first in the BCHL in assists with 17 & is tied for seventh in points with 23. Amongst rookies, his 17 assists are tied for the most and his 23 points are tied for the second-most.
- Backs forward Sullivan Mack is tied for ninth in the BCHL in points with 22. He has seven multi-point games this season.
- Backs goaltender Owen Say has lost just twice in regulation in his last 11 starts. He is 7-2-2 in those games. Say ranks fourth in the BCHL in minutes played (793) & ranks seventh in save percentage amongst goalies with 10+ games played (13 GP, .909 SV%).
- After starting the season 0-2-1, the Silverbacks have gone 9-3-2 since.
- Backs defenceman Hunter Sansbury has nine points in his last 11 games (1G, 8A).
- Backs defenceman Tucker Hartmann also has nine points in his last 11 games (3G, 6A).
- Backs forward Drew Bennett has 11 points in his last 12 games (5G, 6A)
- Backs forward Cameron Recchi has seven points in his last eight games (4G, 3A).
Leading Scorers
Backs:
Points – Simon Tassy (24)
Goals – Simon Tassy (15)
Assists – Noah Serdachny (17)
Wins – Owen Say (7)
G.A.A. – Owen Say (2.72)
SV% – Owen Say (.909)
Warriors:
Points – Carter Wilkie (16)
Goals – Carter Wilkie (9)
Assists – Tyson Jugnauth (10)
Wins – Johnny Derrick (3)
G.A.A. – Zach Bennett (2.98)
SV% – Zach Bennett (.911)
Special Teams
Backs:
PP – 21.1% (7th) / PK – 70% (T-15th)
Warriors:
PP – 22.4% (4th) / PK – 81.5% (8th)
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: NATHAN MORGAN
Morgan got the monkey off the back with his first of the season on Sunday against the Warriors, when he sniped a shot over the right shoulder of goaltender Johnny Derrick on the power play late in the first period.
“I threw one on net and honestly I didn’t even see it go in — I just saw a couple of guys lose their minds on the ice before I even knew anything,” Morgan joked. “They were jumping around and I threw my head up and was like, ‘Oh, that feels nice.'”
WARRIORS: PORTER DAWSON
The Warriors have just four goals in their last four games, and Dawson has three of those four. He has 11 points on the 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.
