Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (23-18-2) travel to Penticton to take on the Vees (34-11-2) on Saturday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
This is the fifth of six head-to-head meeting this season. The season series is currently tied 2-2. The Backs won the first two meetings on home ice — 5-2 on Oct. 16 and 4-3 on Nov. 13. The Vees won the next two meetings — 6-3 on Nov. 15 and 5-2 on Jan. 3 at the Shaw Centre. The final H2H will be on Feb. 7 in Penticton.
Tonight’s game has a 6 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off a 6-2 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings on Wednesday night.
The Silverbacks scored five power play goals, each from a different forward: Coalson Wolford, William Poirier, Luke Mylymok, Daniel Rybarik and Nick Unruh. Mylymok also opened the scoring at even strength. The ‘blue unit’ of Jeremy Gervais, Mylymok, Poirier, Unruh and Wolford scored four of the five power goals and combined for 15 points.
Goaltender Grant Adams picked up his first win as a Silverback with a 28-save performance.
Unruh’s four-point night got him to an impressive milestone: 100 career BCHL points.
A Closer Look
The Silverbacks’ five power play goals was a first for the season. Their previous high was three, which came on Oct. 25 in an 8-5 win over the Wenatchee Wild. That game was also the last time the Backs forced the opposition to make a goaltending change, which Prince George did on Wednesday halfway through the game after the score was 4-2.
Salmon Arm has now scored five or more goals in a game 10 times this season — six on home ice and four on the road. They are 8-2 in those games.
Rybarik’s power play goal from Wednesday gives him eight goals in his last eight games and 24 on the season, tied for second in the BCHL. Mylymok recorded his first multi-point game as a Silverback and now has seven points (6G, 1A) in 13 games. Wolford tallied the first three-point night of his BCHL career with one goal and two assists. Six of his eight goals this season have come on special teams (five PPG, one SHG).
The Silverbacks went 2-4 on their six-game homestand, despite outshooting their opponents by a combined 248-181. The Backs are 7-9-2 on the road this season, but 2-7-1 in their last 10 away from home.
Leading Scorers
Wakeford (16-27-43)
Hirose (9-34-43)
Rybarik (24-13-37)
Poirier (12-17-29)
Unruh (9-18-27)
The Opposition
The Vees are coming off a lopsided 9-1 win over the Merritt Centennials on home ice on Friday. The game was 1-1 after 20 minutes, but Penticton struck six times in the second to blow the game wide open. Eight different players had multi-point nights.
Penticton is 7-1 since returning from the Christmas break, out-scoring their opponents 38-15 in those games. Their 180 goals for on the season rank first. Their 111 goals against are third-best and they have the league’s second-best goal differential at +69.
The Vees have a 10-point cushion on first place in the Interior Division.
They are 13-4-2 on home ice this season and 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.
Leading Scorers
Silye (19-33-52)
O’Brien (17-33-50)
Sillinger (16-32-48)
Weight (20-27-47)
Niedermayer (18-17-35)
Notable Versus Penticton
The Backs and Vees are all square in the season series 2-2. Salmon Arm has scored 14 times in the four games, while surrendering 16 goals to Penticton.
Ethan Langenegger has a 2-1 record and .926 SV% against the Vees. Rybarik has four goals and one assist in the four games against them.
Lukas Sillinger leads all scorers head-to-head with eight points.
Upcoming Milestones
Akito Hirose: 5 assists from 100 career BCHL assists.
Noah Wakeford: 5 assists from 75 career BCHL assists.
Tune In
Pre-game coverage on EZ Rock starts at 5:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on HockeyTV.
