PHOTO: LISA MAZUREK PHOTOGRAPHY
Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (3-2-1) will begin a hectic schedule on Wednesday afternoon when they meet the Vernon Vipers (3-2-1) at Kal Tire Place for the first of six games in eight days.
Today’s game has a 1 p.m. puck drop.
Season H2H
| Date | Score | Record | Goalie |
| April 2 | 4-1 L | 0-1-0 | Say 22/26 |
| April 7 | 6-5 OTL | 0-1-1 | Vanderkooi 27/33 |
| April 10 | 2-1 OTW | 1-1-1 | Say 32/33 |
Us
Rolling: The Silverbacks have points in four straight games and have won three in a row. All three wins have been tight games (two in overtime). After playing well and not getting the results early on, the goals have started to flow as of late, which has helped get them some points. Salmon Arm had two goals in the first two games and has scored 16 in the last four.
“If you look at our underlying numbers in the first two games they would have told you that we were going to break out sooner or later,” Backs head coach Tyler Shattock said. “Sometimes you don’t get the result you want and lucky for us, we’ve got the result here in the last four games in a positive manner for us, so hopefully we can keep that going.”
Can’t Get Any Tighter: The standings after six games each literally cannot get any closer. Each team in the Vernon ‘Pod’ has a 3-2-1 record for seven points. Even the goal differential is nearly identical, with Salmon Arm and Vernon at -1 and West Kelowna at +2. All six games for the Silverbacks except their first have been decided by two goals or less.
Mack, Serdachny, Tassy Line Still Hot: This line ranks 1,2,3 in team scoring. Sullivan Mack is coming off a four-point game and now leads the team with 10 points (4G, 6A), while Serdachny is second with nine (3G, 6A) and Tassy (coming off a two-goal game) has six (3G, 3A), all recorded in his last three games.
Serdachny was an honourable mention for BCHL Player of the Week last week, along with goaltender Owen Say, who has won his last three starts and is now up to a .923 SV% in five games.
Them
Wrong Direction: After winning their first three games, the Vipers have now gone 0-2-1 since. Their most recent result, a 5-1 loss to the Warriors, was their worst effort of the season, according to head coach Jason McKee.
“It was a discouraging afternoon for our team,” McKee said. “We didn’t play well at all. It was our least effective game that we’ve played in the Pod. For the most part we’ve been pretty good, but that effort wasn’t close enough to give us a chance to win.”
Lessons from Tight Games: Other than their most recent game, the Vernon Vipers have had close contests throughout the pod season. Coach McKee said it’s good experience for his players to have so many tight games.
“It’s great experience for our players, playing in those games,” he said. “It’s exciting for the players. We’ve got to embrace it. As you get older and play hockey, you move up the levels and it gets harder to do everything and everything tightens up. So I think it’s what they should be used to now and it’s what they should be used to moving forward.”
Leading Scorers
Backs:
Points – Sullivan Mack (10)
Goals – Sullivan Mack (4)
Wins – Owen Say (3)
SV% – Owen Say (.923)
Vipers:
Points – Ryan Shostak (6)
Goals – Shostak & Cameron MacDonald (3)
Wins – James Porter Jr. (3)
SV% – James Porter Jr. (.908)
Special Teams
Backs:
PP – 24% (6th) / PK – 65.2% (15th)
Vipers:
PP – 31.6% (1st) / PK – 73.1% (14th)
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: SIMON TASSY
Tassy had a power play goal on Sunday to give the Backs a 2-1 lead and then capped off the evening with an empty-net goal, his third in the last three games. He has also added three assists in the last three games for six points. Even though he didn’t record a point in the first three games, he was still getting chances and he stuck with the process.
“Tassy has done a lot for getting [Mack] going here,” assistant coach Carter Cochrane said following Saturday’s win. “His play hasn’t changed. Our guys are paying close enough attention and we’ve made points of it too, that Simon is a guy that guys should be looking at right now and seeing how you can get rewarded for the things you do.”
VIPERS: NICHOLAS KENT
Kent is as mobile as they come on the back end and now has four points on the season, three of which have come against the Silverbacks.
Tune In
As always, all games will be streamed live on BCHL TV, with the Braby Motors pre-game show getting underway at 5:45 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.
