There are a pair of 3-0 sights tonight in Port Albeni. With a win, the Silverbacks will go 3-0 against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, and it’ll be step one enroute to a trip of Island games where the team is hoping to pick up six points.
Tonight the Bulldogs are the team to beat, tomorrow it’s Nanaimo, and Sunday the Silverbacks wrap up their trip against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
Noah Wakeford leads the Silverbacks in scoring against the Bulldogs with four points, while Tyson Gayfer, Akito Hirose, and Nick Unruh each have three. Wakeford has four assists, Unruh had a hat-trick in the Shaw Centre, while Hirose and Gayfer each have one goal and two assists.
2019 got off to a good start for Salmon Arm, but last weekend had a few bumps. The opening weekend saw the team defeat the Penticton Vees and Surrey Eagles, then fall in the third of a triple headers in a tight contest with the Penticton Vees. Last weekend the Silverbacks lost to Vernon for the first time this season, gave up a pair of late leads to the Powell River Kings Saturday night losing in a shootout, but closed things out with a 6-3 win over the Nanaimo Clippers. This is a key weekend to take on three of the bottom seven teams in the league. 2-0 already the Bulldogs, Alberni will be desperate to avoid the season sweep, but it’s also a team Salmon Arm should have some confidence against beating them by scores of 4-1 and 5-3.
A tough roadtrip for the Bulldogs last weekend saw Alberni Valley go 0-3 and get outscored 17-9. After being shutout 3-0 by the Wenatchee Wild, the Bulldogs saw a combined 23 goals scored in the next two games. The nine in their favour brought them over 100 on the season marking them as the last team in the league to hit that number.
In the Standings:
With three points last weekend, Salmon Arm stayed in fifth place for the Interior Division, but is slowly creeping up on the West Kelowna Warriors for fourth place. Positioning there is key, as fourth place and up will have home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. With two fewer games played, Salmon Arm is four points back of the Warriors. At this time, West Kelowna has the tie breaker with more wins. Vernon is right on the heels of Salmon Arm one point back and one more game played. Over in West Kelowna tonight, the Warriors are taking on the Vernon Vipers so Salmon Arm will just be hoping that game doesn’t go beyond 60 minutes for a three point night.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, for the time it looks as if Alberni Valley will face either the first place team on the Island, or first place in the Interior. Neither sounds ideal, but there’s still hope for the Bulldogs to catch Nanaimo for third in the division. With 15 games left in their season, Alberni is 13 points back of third place, and just four points ahead of the Cowichan Valley Capitals who currently are the team crossing over for the Interior playoffs.
Players to Watch:
Silverbacks: An honourable mention for BCHL player of the Week, Matthew Verboon had himself one heck of a return after playing the World Juniors. The Colgate commit almost scored in every game, but the goal awarded to him Saturday night was later changed to John Little. In three games, Verboon had three goals and two assists. In his Silverbacks debut weekend, former Bulldog Darren Rizzolo looked great with two assists in the three games. Reliable in his own end, expect Rizzolo to only improve as he gets more familiar with his teammates.
Bulldogs: A change of scenery this season was a big help for 19 year old Ryan Miotto. In five games with Penticton he was held to two assists, but since being acquired from the Bulldogs is over a point per game player with 38 points in 36 games. Two of those points came in the Shaw Centre where Miotto had a pair of goals. He is on a five game scoring drought which is the second longest he’s had this season. Just once this season he went six games without a goal. In 13 fewer games played than last season, Jackson Doucet is one point away from his total last year. He had a pair of assists in the Shaw Centre with the primary helpers on both of Miotto’s goals. In three games since being acquired by the Bulldogs, defenceman Ethan McLaughlin has been held off the scoresheet. Look for him to have some extra motivation against his former team.
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