The Silverbacks (2-0) hosted the Merritt Centennials (1-1) on Friday night, the 26th in the Backs 2014-15 regular season home opener at the Shaw Centre in Salmon Arm. Each team was playing their first of back-to-back games this weekend as the Centennials open their season at home to Penticton on Saturday night in Merritt and the Silverbacks travel to Trail on Saturday.
Merritt scored first in the first period at 3:37, but the home team tied the score at one at 10:40 of the opening frame as Salmon Arm's Carson Bolduc potted his third of the season from Thomas Plese. The game was tied at one after 20 minutes as the Centennials out-shot the Silverbacks 11-7. Captain Bryden Marsh opened the scoring in the middle stanza, with his first of the season from Nick Hutchison at 4:32 giving the Backs their first lead of the game, 2-1. The Centennials struck on the power-play with 4:57 remaining in the second period, with Middleton off for slashing and the game was tied at two at 15:03. And just over three minutes later, Merritt scored again and regained it's lead at 18:39 going ahead 3-2 into the third period. Each team had 11 shots on goal in second frame. The Centennials would score the only goals of the third period, another power-play marker at 14:14 put the Cents ahead 4-2 and an empty net, power-play goal at 19:32 secured Merritt's 5-2 victory. The Centennial's out-shot the Silverbacks 9-7 in the third period, and Merritt lead 31-25 on the shot clock overall. Angus Redmond made 27 saves in his first loss of the season, as he is now 1-1. The Silverback's power-play finished 0-for-3, while the penalty-kill went 1-for-4.
The Silverbacks will travel to Trail on Saturday, the 27th to take on the Smoke Eaters (2-1) at 7:30p.m. at the Cominco Arena. All Silverbacks regular season and playoff games are webcast via www.fasthockey.com as well as audio only http://mixlr.com/sasilverbacks/ Also, all Silverbacks road games are broadcast on CKVS-FM 93.7 The Voice of the Shuswap http://www.voiceoftheshuswap.ca/
