Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (21-15-2) play their first game of the new decade on Friday night, as they host the division-leading Penticton Vees (28-10-2) at the Shaw Centre at 7 p.m.
This is the fourth of six head-to-head meetings this season. The Backs are 2-1 so far against the Vees, winning 5-2 on Oct. 16 and 4-3 on Nov. 13, before falling 6-3 on Nov. 15. The home team has won all three times.
The divisional rivals also play one another on Jan. 18 and Feb. 7.
Tonight’s game has a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off a home-and-home split with the Vernon Vipers. They were triumphant last Saturday thanks to a 5-2 score, but lost the rematch 4-2 on Sunday, despite out-shooting Vernon 45-35.
The biggest difference last weekend was special teams, with Salmon Arm going 2-for-5 on the power play in their victory, but they gave up two power play goals on Sunday. At even-strength, they out-played the Vipers significantly in both contests.
Saturday’s victory was Salmon Arm’s first road win since Oct. 26.
A Closer Look
The Backs newly formed trio of Lucas Breault, Daniel Rybarik and Noah Wakeford continued to control the play in both games. They were first put together on Dec. 15 against Trail — the final game before the break. Since then, the three have combined for 14 points. Rybarik notched his 20th goal of the season on Sunday and has four goals in his last three games. Breault has six goals in seven games. Wakeford is on a four-game point streak (3G, 4A).
Captain Akito Hirose is also feeling it as of late, currently riding a four-game point streak of his own (3G, 5A). He still holds the longest point streak in the BCHL this season at 14 games (19 points from Oct. 12 to Nov. 17.). The Minnesota-Mankato commit also continues to pace the BCHL in scoring amongst d-men, with 41 points on the season.
The Silverbacks have scored 19 goals in their last four games, after scoring 10 goals in their previous eight games.
The Opposition
The Vees are coming off a 3-1 win on home ice over the Vipers on New Year’s Day (Wednesday). Liam Malmquist had the game-winning-goal. That was Penticton’s first game following the holiday break. The Vees ended December with two home games against Island teams, shutting out Powell River 4-0 on Dec. 20 and falling 6-5 in a shootout on Dec. 21.
The Vees are 9-4-2 on the road this season. They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
Notable Versus Penticton
Backs goaltender Ethan Langenegger has won both his starts against the Vees, stopping a combined 73 of 78 shots in the two games (.936 SV%).
Vees forward Lukas Sillinger leads all skaters with seven points in the three head-to-head games, while teammate Jay O’Brien has five points. Jayden Price and Hirose each lead the Backs with four points.
The Silverbacks have averaged four goals for in the three head-to-head games against Penticton.
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: LUCAS BREAULT
Breault already has six goals and 12 points in just seven games since joining the Backs.
He hasn’t faced off against the Vees yet this season, but has recorded a point in all but one game (the Backs were shut out).
VEES: LUKAS SILLINGER
Not only does Sillinger have seven points in the three head-to-head games this season (2G, 5A), but he also had a goal and an assist in Wednesday’s win over Vernon and has seven points in his last seven games.
Upcoming Milestones
Nick Unruh: 4 points from 100 career BCHL points. Also 2 games from 150 career games.
Noah Wakeford: 3 points from 100 career BCHL points.
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.
