Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (21-16-2) host the BCHL-leading Coquitlam Express (35-5-0) at the Shaw Centre on Sunday afternoon.
This is the third and final head-to-head meeting this season. The Backs are 0-1-1 so far against the Express, falling 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 28 and 7-1 on Oct. 5 at the BCHL Showcase. Coquitlam enters with a 16-game winning streak.
Today’s game has a 3 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Penticton Vees on Friday night. They entered the third period tied 2-2, but surrendered two quick goals at the beginning of the period. Penticton added an empty-net goal to make it a 5-2 final. Salmon Arm out-shot the Vees 43-37 in the game.
Daniel Rybarik and Noah Wakeford each had a goal and an assist in the game, while Ethan Langenegger made 32 saves.
Before Friday, the Silverbacks split a home-and-home series with the Vernon Vipers.
A Closer Look
The ‘Red Line’ of Lucas Breault, Daniel Rybarik and Noah Wakeford continued their torrid pace, providing the offence yet again. The three have combined for 19 points the last four games. Rybarik and Wakeford are each on five-game point streaks (5G, 4A for Rybarik; 4G, 5A for Wakeford). Breault was named the Boston Pizza Silverback Player of the Month for December on Saturday.
Captain Akito Hirose increased his point streak to five games with an assist on Friday (3G, 6A). He ranks second amongst all skaters in the BCHL with 34 assists. The Minnesota-Mankato commit also continues to pace the BCHL in scoring amongst d-men, with 42 points on the season.
The Silverbacks have out-shot their opponents in four straight games and in seven of their last nine contests.
The Opposition
The Express enter with a franchise-best 16-game winning streak. They are coming off a 5-4 win in Vernon over the Vipers, a game where they were out-shot 53-26. Ethan O’Rourke had the game-winning-goal late in the third period, his 13th of the season, while Nicholas Carabin, Tyler Schleppe, and Adam Trotman each had multi-point nights.
Coquitlam will be playing their third game in three days, after beating the West Kelowna Warriors 4-3 on Friday night.
The Express are 14-5 on the road this season (undefeated at home). Their last loss came on Nov. 10 against Powell River.
Notable Versus Coquitlam
The Silverbacks lay an egg the last time they faced off against the Express — a 7-1 loss — but that was way back at the beginning of October.
The first saw the Backs take nine penalties and still get to overtime, where Cooper Connell was the overtime hero for the home side.
Nine Express players have two or more points in the two head-to-head games this season.
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: NICK MARTINO
Martino had some noteworthy scoring chances on Friday night against the Vees, but he simply couldn’t find the back of the net. He and linemates Sam Schofield and Simon Tassy were snake-bitten, but if they keep it up, they’ll break through.
EXPRESS: ADAM TROTMAN
Trotman increased his point-streak to four games on Saturday with a two-assist performance. He has three goals and three assists during the streak. He has nine points in his last six games (4G, 5A).
Upcoming Milestones
Noah Wakeford: 1 point from 100 career BCHL points.
Nick Unruh: 4 points from 100 career BCHL points.
Akito Hirose: 5 assists from 100 career BCHL assists.
Tune In
Pre-game coverage on EZ Rock starts at 2:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. The game will also be streamed live on HockeyTV.
