Salmon Arm B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks defeated the Surrey Eagles 4-1 on Wednesday night at the Shaw Centre to stay in first place in the BCHL. Their record now sits at 13-3-1.
There were lots of check marks in this one: the penalty kill went 5-for-5, the power play went 1-for-3, the team got goals from their big guns and their depth players, and the goaltending from Dylan Kruss was spectacular.
GAME SUMMARY
The Silverbacks didn’t take long to set the tone, taking control of the game early and drawing a penalty six minutes in. With 17 seconds to go in that power play, Noah Wakeford backhanded home his eighth goal of the season to open the scoring. After one period, the Silverbacks had a 1-0 edge on the scoreboard and 9-6 lead in shots.
The second period was non-stop action. Just four minutes into the frame, Silverbacks rookie forward Sam Schofield out-muscled the opposition for a loose puck just inside the offensive blue line to create a 2-on-1. Then, the Yellowknife native picked the top corner on the glove side of goaltender Cal Schell for his first career BCHL goal.
Then it was the Dylan Kruss show. First, the Thornhill, Ont. native stoned Cristophe Tellier after former Silverback Hudson Schandor made a great backdoor pass. Next, Eagles forward Sean Ramsay was turned away by Kruss when he was in all alone, after Kruss stuffed his right pad right against the post to prevent the forward from sliding it in.
The Eagles did get one goal back halfway through the second on a goal that Kruss had no chance on. Wyatt Schlaht made a cross-ice feed to pinching defenceman J.J. Fecteau, who then threw it back across the goal to a waiting Buddy Johnson.
Right after the Eagles scored, however, Kruss was at it again, this time with perhaps his best of the night. After a puck that was cleared along the glass hit the linesmen, the Eagles had a 2-on-1 rush. Kruss first stopped Carter King with the glove, and then sprawled out to make a diving stick save on Kenny Riddett to keep the Backs out in front 2-1.
After that, the Silverbacks took back control of the game. Simon Tassy had a breakaway soon after and nearly made it 3-1 for Salmon Arm, but Schell shut the door, taking the game to the second intermission at 2-1.
Halfway through the third, the Silverbacks came through with an insurance marker, this time thanks to a heads up play from Will Poirier. The Valleyfield, QC native took advantage of a bad Eagles change by quickly re-entering the zone and taking the puck right at defenceman Jimmy Darby, who couldn’t handle the power and speed coming at him. Poirier deked out Schell with a forward-backhand-forward move, finishing to the blocker side to make the score 3-1.
The Silverbacks would add an empty-net goal off the stick of Noah Wakeford with 1:58 to go to seal the game at 4-1.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Sam Schofield, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Schofield’s first goal was the perfect example of what makes him so valuable, as he won a puck battle against a much larger opponent and then showed his scoring touch. Assistant coach Tanner Cochrane called the line of Schofield, Logan Shaw and Simon Tassy the team’s best in the game.
Dylan Kruss, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: You may look at the stats and come to the conclusion that Kruss’s victory was easy with just 22 saves. Not so. In fact, far from it. He made countless big saves in the short time the Silverbacks were turning the puck over, particularly in the second period.
Noah Wakeford, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Wakeford now has more goals (9) in 17 games this season than he did in 41 games last season (8). He also now has 22 points on the season, which ranks fifth in the BCHL. Click below to watch his first goal from Wednesday.
For the full boxscore, click here.
STAT OF THE GAME
Penalty Kill 5-for-5: Most of the Eagles chances on Wednesday didn’t happen on the power play, where they looked lost or just content to work the puck along the outside. The Silverbacks are now a ridiculous 27-for-28 on the PK in their last six games (96%).
WHAT’S NEXT
The Silverbacks make the trip down south to Wenatchee for a double-header at Town Toyota Center on Friday and Saturday.
The game can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m., while fans can also stream the game on HockeyTV.
