Victoria, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (23-19-4) continue their three-game road trip on Saturday night when they take on the Victoria Grizzlies.
This is the second and final head-to-head meeting of the season. The Backs won the only other matchup this season by a 5-3 score back on Sept. 21 at the Shaw Centre.
The Backs enter action one point back of the Vernon Vipers for third place in the Interior Division and two points up on the Wenatchee Wild. Vernon plays West Kelowna this evening, while the Wild host the Trail Smoke Eaters.
Tonight’s game has a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off consecutive overtime losses: a 5-4 overtime loss to the Vernon Vipers last Sunday afternoon followed by a 6-5 overtime loss to the Powell River Kings last night.
The Kings led 2-0, only to have the Silverbacks storm back with three consecutive second period goals. Although the Backs had a 4-2 lead halfway through the third, Powell River forced OT and notched the winner just under two minutes into the extra frame.
Salmon Arm got two (more) goals from Daniel Rybarik, who now has 26 this season, plus singles from Luke Mylymok, Logan Shaw and Drew Bennett on Friday. Mylymok’s goal came on the power play, which has now produced 13 goals in the last 12 games. The PP had struck just once in the previous seven games.
A Closer Look
The Silverbacks have suffered three straight one-goal losses and are 2-4-2 in the month of January. Salmon Arm is 10-7-4 in one-goal games this season (they have six overtime victories on the year). Holding the lead has been a topic of discussion as of late, with the Silverbacks letting two and three-goal leads slip away in three of their last five.
They’ve out-shot the opposition in nine of their last 11 games and have 16 goals in their last four games. Nine of those 16 goals have come courtesy of the Mylymok (three), Will Poirier (four) and Nick Unruh (two) trio.
Thirty-three percent of the team’s power play goals (13 of 39) have been scored in the last 12 games.
The Backs are 7-10-4 on the road this season, but 1-6-3 in their last 10 away from home.
Leading Scorers
Akito Hirose (9-37-46)
Noah Wakeford (16-28-44)
Daniel Rybarik (26-13-39)
William Poirier (15-17-32)
Nick Unruh (10-21-31)
The Opposition
The Grizzlies also suffered an overtime loss on Friday night, falling 3-2 to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on the road. Victoria was out-shot 46-31 in the game, including allowing 21 shots on goal in the first period alone. Goaltender Blake Wood made 20 first period saves, the most stops in a first period for the team all season.
Victoria is 1-3-1 in their last five games, with just eight goals total in those games.
Rookie Cody Monds has been a standout player and leads the Grizzlies in scoring with 46 points. He has 29 points in his last 20 games (12G, 17A). Twenty-year-old captain Marty Westhaver, now in his fourth BCHL season, is having his best offensive year yet with 37 points and registered his 100th career BCHL point earlier this month.
The Grizzlies are 10-13-0 on home ice this season and 3-6-1 in their last 10.
Leading Scorers
Cody Monds (19-27-46)
Marty Westhaver (17-20-37)
Henri Schreifels (17-17-34)
Alex DiPaolo (10-17-27)
Vincent Nardone (7-14-21)
Notable Versus Victoria
The teams have only met once this season, but in that game Backs forward Daniel Rybarik had two goals and Noah Wakeford had three assists. Poirier, Akito Hirose and Hunter Sansbury also each had two-point nights.
The Silverbacks have only squared off against the Grizzlies five times in the last five years, going 2-3. Last year, Salmon Arm won their lone visit to the provincial capital by a 6-3 score.
Upcoming Milestones
Akito Hirose: 2 assists from 100 career BCHL assists. Also 3 games from 200 career BCHL games played.
Noah Wakeford: 4 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.
