Powell River, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (23-19-3) begin a three-game road trip in Powell River on Friday night when they take on the Kings (23-21-3).
This is the second and final head-to-head meeting of the season. The Backs won the only other H2H game this season by a 5-2 score back on Sept. 20 at the Shaw Centre.
Tonight’s game has a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off a 5-4 overtime loss to the Vernon Vipers last Sunday afternoon.
The Silverbacks got a hat-trick from veteran William Poirier and got out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but allowed the Vipers to slowly chip away at the lead and eventually tie the game 3-3 in the third. Even though Poirier completed the hat-trick to restore the lead at 4-3 39 seconds after, Vernon tied the game at 4-4, this time on a power play.
Cameron MacDonald scored the OT winner with just 10 seconds remaining in the 3-on-3 extra frame.
A Closer Look
The Silverbacks have suffered back-to-back one-goal losses, losing 2-1 to the Penticton Vees last Saturday in addition to Sunday’s game against the Vipers. Despite a current 2-5-1 slide, they’ve outshot their opponents in nine of the the last 10 games.
The line of Luke Mylymok, William Poirier and Nick Unruh has caught fire as of late, with them generating three of the four goals on Sunday and combining for 17 points in the last three games. Both Poirier and Unruh were named honourable mentions for BCHL Player of the Week on Monday for their performances in the last three games.
The Backs are 7-10-3 on the road this season, but 1-7-2 in their last 10 away from home.
Leading Scorers
Akito Hirose (9-36-45)
Noah Wakeford (16-27-43)
Daniel Rybarik (24-13-37)
William Poirier (15-17-32)
Nick Unruh (10-21-31)
The Opposition
The Kings are coming off impressive efforts on home ice last weekend where they beat the Nanaimo Clippers two nights in a row, first by a 5-2 score and then 5-1.
Goaltender Derek Krall stopped 49 of 52 shots in the two games combined and was named an honourable mention for BCHL Player of the Week. He is 3-1-1 in his last five starts with a .917 SV% and 2.79 G.A.A.
Leading scorer Levi Glasman had four points in the games after just five points in his previous nine. He just played in his 150th career BCHL game.
The Kings are 13-8-0 on home ice this season.
Leading Scorers
Levi Glasman (17-16-33)
Brett Roloson (15-18-33)
Reilly Moran (14-17-31)
Devin Leduc (13-14-27)
Michael Abgrall (8-18-26)
Notable Versus Powell River
The teams have only met once this season, but in that game Backs forward Noah Wakeford had two goals and an assist and Nick Unruh had one goal and one assist in a 5-2 win. Ethan Langenegger picked up the victory with a 24-save performance, while 10 different Silverbacks picked up at least a point.
The Silverbacks have only squared off against the Kings in Powell River three times in the last five years, going 1-2. Last year, Salmon Arm won 3-2 on Dec. 7, with Wakeford once again scoring twice and Langenegger picking up the win.
Upcoming Milestones
Akito Hirose: 3 assists from 100 career BCHL assists. Also 4 games from 200 career BCHL games played.
Noah Wakeford: 5 assists from 75 career BCHL assists.
Tune In
Pre-game coverage on EZ Rock starts at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on HockeyTV.
