PHOTO: LISA MAZUREK PHOTOGRAPHY
Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks and Vernon Vipers will face off in game three of their respective regular seasons on Wednesday afternoon at Kal Tire Place.
The first meeting between the two was a 4-1 Vipers win five days ago.
Today’s game has a 1 p.m. puck drop.
NOTABLE
Stick with the Process: The Silverbacks were very good at 5-on-5 in their first two games. They did have trouble finishing, but they out-chanced both the Vipers and the Warriors significantly at even strength, which is a winning recipe.
That’s why head coach Tyler Shattock said one of the keys to Wednesday’s game will be sticking with it.
“If you really watch [our 5-on-5 play] with a close eye, we defended really well. We didn’t give up a ton of chances right in front of our net or in the house area,” Shattock said. “Obviously we gave up three power play goals over the weekend which is way too many, but 5-on-5 I think we defended really well. Now we have to kind of take that attention to detail and that grittiness that we’ve been defending with and turn it into our o-zone play as well with getting inside ice on guys and being able to put home some second chances.”
More Offensive Intensity: When Shattock says he wants the team to take the ‘grittiness’ they’ve been defending with and turn it into their offensive zone play, offensive intensity and urgency is what he’s talking about.
With Vernon, you always have to battle for inside ice because of their structure and their personnel. You have to out-work them and win puck battles, not just along the wall but in and around the net.
“Offensive intensity [means] making guys defend you in good ice, which is obviously to the inside, and not making it easy on Vernon to push us to the outside because they’ve got some bigger, experienced d-men back there that do a pretty good job of it,” Shattock said. “We’ve got to try to find a way to get inside their house and create more chances and create more scrambles in front of their goalie.”
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: NOAH SERDACHNY
Serdachny has two assists in his first two games, but it’s not the points that are impressing the coaches.
“Dach is a guy that has really taken those steps through the past few months here. There’s just a maturity to his game that you don’t see a lot in 17-year-olds,” assistant coach Carter Cochrane said in Saturday’s post-game interview. “There’s patience with the puck, it’s about using his eyes to create lanes and open up opportunities for his teammates. He’s a guy that’s going to be exciting to watch moving forward for us.”
VIPERS: CAM MACDONALD
MacDonald had the power play goal early in the third that made the game 3-1 on Friday and he also had a shorthanded goal and primary assist in Vernon’s 5-3 win over West Kelowna on Sunday afternoon.
The Surrey, B.C. native had three goals in six games against the Silverbacks last season.
Tune In
As always, all games will be streamed live on BCHL TV, with the Braby Motors pre-game show getting underway at 12:45 p.m. BCHL TV is powered by Hockey TV, so if you have a Hockey TV subscription, you already have one for BCHL TV as well.
