Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (28-20-5) travel to Merritt on Saturday night to take on the Centennials (11-38-4) for the third time in the last seven games.
This is the fifth of six head-to-head meetings this season. The season series is currently 3-1 for the Backs, after they defeated the Cents in back-to-back games just over two weeks ago, by scores of 6-2 and 5-3, plus a 4-3 overtime victory back on Nov. 8. Merritt’s lone victory came on Nov. 9 at Nicola Valley Memorial Arena by a 6-5 score.
The Backs are currently in third place in the Interior Division at 61 points, one point up on the Wenatchee Wild, who defeated the Vernon Vipers 5-2 on Friday night. Vernon is one point behind Wenatchee, currently in fifth with 59 points. Both the Wild and Vipers have played one more game than the Backs.
Tonight’s game has a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs are coming off a 6-2 victory over the West Kelowna Warriors on Wednesday night at home.
Rookie forward Simon Tassy led the way on Wednesday with three goals and an assist, including a shorthanded breakaway tally in the final minute to seal the win.
Also scoring in the victory were Will Poirier (21st), Lucas Breault (9th) and Coalson Wolford (11th).
Grant Adams picked up his third straight win with 21 saves.
A Closer Look
The Silverbacks are 5-0-1 in their last six games, out-scoring their opponents 25-12 in those games.
Twelve different players recorded at least a point in Wednesday’s win. It was the sixth time this season Salmon Arm has scored six or more goals in a single game, but the first time they’ve scored that many without getting at least one of them on the power play.
Tassy’s goals were his first since Dec. 13, but he now has six points in his last four games.
The Silverbacks are 10-11-5 this season on the road. They are 4-2-3 on the road since the Christmas Break.
If the playoffs started today, the third-place Silverbacks would host the Victoria Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, as they are the cross-over team currently with the most points (the last-place teams in the Mainland and Island Divisions cross over to the Interior).
Leading Scorers
Akito Hirose (9-42-51)
Noah Wakeford (17-31-48)
Daniel Rybarik (28-16-44)
William Poirier (21-17-38)
Nick Unruh (11-26-37)
The Opposition
The Centennials snapped an 11-game slide on Feb. 7 with a big 5-2 road win over the Prince George Spruce Kings. Their most recent game was a 9-2 loss to the first-place Coquitlam Express.
Merritt has allowed 87 goals in their last 15 games, an average of 5.8 goals against per game.
The Cents are led up front by Payton Matsui, who has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his last 12 games.
Merritt is 6-19-1 on home ice this season, but their last home win was on Nov. 23 against Wenatchee (0-11-1 at home since then).
Leading Scorers
Payton Matsui (14-23-37)
Christian Buono (9-24-33)
Daniel Tkac (9-18-27)
Thomas Manty (9-17-26)
Rylan Van Unen (14-11-25)
Notable Versus Merritt
Backs forward Drew Bennett has had a ton of success against the Cents this season, as has Nick Unruh — each with six points in four head-to-head games. Backs forward Luke Mylymok has five points in just two head-to-head games, while defenceman Jeremy Gervais has four assists in just two games.
Seven different Silverbacks have four or more points against Merritt so far this season.
Matsui has four goals in four games against the Backs, including a pair on Jan. 31. Daniel Tkac and Talon Zakall each have four points in four games against Salmon Arm.
Upcoming Milestones
Noah Wakeford: 1 assists from 75 career BCHL assists.
Nick Unruh: 4 goals from 50 career BCHL goals.
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.
