4-0 became 5-0 Sunday afternoon.
An exhausted Silverbacks team missing five players beat the Vernon Vipers 3-2 who had seven scratches themselves.
Salmon Arm had three AP’s in the lineup including two on defence while Vernon had a full forward line of AP players.
Two key saves from Ethan Langenegger let to Silverback goals within two minutes of each goal. The first was Connor Marritt from the Vipers coming down on a two-on-one, and taking a shot which was snatched by the glove of Langenegger with three minutes to go in the period. 1:08 later Justin Wilson jammed a rebound in to give Salmon Arm a 1-0 lead.
A night after there were 17 power plays combined in the Shaw Centre, Sunday afternoon just saw three penalties called. In the second period Vernon received their second man advantage, and Ben Helgeson shovelled the puck past Ethan Langenegger to even the score at one. Defenceman Michael Young took the point shot, and with the assist he recorded his fourth point of the year against the Backs; It was his first goal.
In the third period, Salmon Arm took an early lead off the stick of Justin Wilson scoring his 12th of the season. Despite just playing in his 18th game, Wilson now sits one goal back of Matthew Verboon for the team lead in goals.
The Vipers would reply at the 10 minute mark of the period with Teddy Wooding rushing down the right wing, and sniping the puck into the top corner to knot the game at two.
With eight minutes remaining, Ethan Langenegger made his second key stop. Wooding was sprung on a breakaway, but the speedy forward was denied from scoring his second of the game. Just over a minute later, Trevor Adams came onto the ice from a line change and scored to give Salmon Arm the 3-2 lead. Coming onto the ice, Adams patiently entered the offensive zone and stole the puck from a Vernon Viper. A burst of speed and the winger scored to end an 11 game scoring drought. It was the third game winner for Adams this season.
Ethan Langenegger stoppped 49 of 51 shots. It was the second most shots the Silverbacks netminder has faced this season after seeing 54 in the third game of the season against the Merritt Centennials. The win for Salmon Arm moved them five points ahead of Vernon in the Interior Division.
KEY PERFORMER:
He missed a month with an upper body injury, and this weekend played his third game in as many games. Wyatt Marlow isn’t the biggest player on the ice, but is never one to shy away from a hit. He also came close a few times to scoring his first BCHL goal Sunday afternoon, and again was a force on the forcecheck knocking shoulders with a number of big Vipers defencemen. With two goals, Justin Wilson continues to produce for the Silverbacks. Since coming back from any injury that nearly kept him out a month, the 20 year old forward has seven goals in nine games, and is currently on a three game scoring streak.
