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Game Preview: Silverbacks Look for 4th Straight ‘W’ in West K

Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (11-2-1) are riding high after taking down the 11-1 Penticton Vees on Wednesday and tonight they’ll be looking for their fourth straight win against the West Kelowna Warriors (3-9-3-1).

This is already the fourth of six head-to-head meetings this season for the Interior Division rivals. Salmon Arm is 3-0 so far against the Warriors, winning 4-1 on Sept. 8, 4-3 in overtime on Sept. 24 and 6-1 at home on Oct. 1. The final two matchups are set for Nov. 23 and Feb. 12.

Tonight’s game has the usual 7 p.m. puck drop.

 

3 Storylines

1) Continued Dominance?

As mentioned, the Backs are 3-0 so far against the Warriors this year, with their most recent victory coming in the form of a 6-1 blowout at the Shaw Centre on Oct. 1. In all three games, the Backs haven’t had trouble creating offence, averaging 45.7 shots on goal per game and scoring 14 goals in the four games (one was an empty netter).

The one game between the two clubs that was played at Royal LePage Place was much closer, as the Backs had to erase multiple one-goal deficits and tie the game with under two minutes remaining to force overtime.

2) Momentum for Warriors

The Warriors are coming off a strong weekend where they took three of a possible four points down in Wenatchee in two games against the Wild, winning 5-2 on Friday and then falling in overtime 4-3 on Saturday. The Town Toyota Center is not an easy building to win in, so this was a good building block for West Kelowna, who are now 2-0-2 in their last four and have allowed just 2.25 goals-against per-game during that stretch. On the season, they’re averaging almost four goals-against per-game.

3) PK

The Silverbacks penalty kill went an impressive 7-for-7 on Wednesday and now rank fourth in the BCHL at 87%. The PK has now been perfect three games in a row, which they haven’t accomplished since the first three games of the year.

On the flip side, the Warriors PK is third-last at 74%. On home ice, it’s even worse, at 71%.

 

Players to Watch

SILVERBACKS: DANIEL RYBARIK

Rybarik scored his league-leading fourth game-winning goal against the Vees on Wednesday when he made it 3-0 early in the second, but he also opened the scoring with a nice deflection in front of the net, giving him eight goals this season in just 13 games.

The 20-year-old began the year with a six-game point streak (5G, 4A) before going five games without scoring. Now he’s back to burying the biscuit, with three goals in his last three games. Rybarik also has one goal and three assists in three head-to-head games against West Kelowna so far this season.

WARRIORS: ANDREW VIGGARS

The 19-year-old defenceman was released by the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen earlier this season and now joins the Warriors for his first BCHL game since March. He tallied one goal and nine helpers last season for West Kelowna in 44 games, after playing 39 games for the Hitmen in 2017-18.

 

 

Upcoming Milestones

Akito Hirose: 1 assist from 75 career BCHL assists

William Porier: 1 point from 100 career junior points (including CHL)

Noah Wakeford: 3 goals from 25 career BCHL goals

Ethan Langenegger: 1 game from 50 career BCHL games played

 

Tune In

Tonight’s game will be on EZ Rock as usual and will also be streamed live on HockeyTV.