Trail, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (29-22-5) take on the Trail Smoke Eaters (35-16-5) on Friday night on the road in a must-win game if they want to secure third place in the Interior Division.
This is the sixth and final head-to-head meeting of the season. The Backs lead the season series 4-1, picking up victories on Sept 13 and 14 (4-2 and 3-2 in OT), Nov. 2 (2-1 in a SO) and Dec. 15 (7-4). The lone Smoke Eaters victory came on Nov. 1 by a 5-4 score.
The Backs are currently in fifth place in the Interior Division, just one point behind the Wild for third and tied with the Vernon Vipers at 63 points, but the Vipers hold the tiebreaker (overall wins, 30 to 29).
Tonight’s game has a 7 p.m. puck drop.
Last Time Out
The Backs edged the Chilliwack Chiefs 5-4 on Wednesday night, coming back from an early 2-0 deficit.
Scoring two clutch third period goals for the Backs on Wednesday was veteran forward Daniel Rybarik, which included hitting the 30-goal mark on the season. He also happened to celebrate his 21st birthday yesterday.
Also scoring for the Backs were Jeremy Gervais, Sam Schofield and Simon Tassy. Ethan Langenegger picked up win number 22 on the year, the sixth-most in the BCHL.
All five of the Silverbacks’ goals came at even-strength. Chilliwack struck twice on the power play.
A Closer Look
The Silverbacks are still fighting for third or fourth place in the first round of the playoffs, either of which would give them home ice in the first round.
They’ve gone 6-1-2 in their last nine and will need to finish with more points than both the Wild and Vipers in order to finish ahead of either of them. This is because both teams currently have more wins than Salmon Arm (30 to 29), which is the first tiebreaker.
In the last five games, the Silverbacks have scored 16 goals — 14 at even-strength, one on the power play and one shorthanded. The power play is 1-for-14 in those five games (seven per cent).
Not only did Rybarik hit a milestone with his 30th of the season, but he also notched his eighth game-winning-goal, tied for first in the BCHL.
If the playoffs started today, the fifth-place Silverbacks would play the fourth-place Vernon Vipers in the first round for the third straight post-season.
Leading Scorers
Noah Wakeford (18-32-50)
Akito Hirose (9-41-50)
Daniel Rybarik (30-17-47)
William Poirier (22-17-39)
Nick Unruh (11-27-38)
The Opposition
The Smoke Eaters have been very good ever since the calendar flipped to 2020, going 12-3-1 in January and February so far. They are, however, 2-2 in their last four.
Their last game was a 5-2 win over the West Kelowna Warriors on Family Day, where Chase Dafoe netted the game-winning-goal.
Trail has very strong special teams, ranking third in power play percentage (23.2%) and third in penalty killing percentage (86.3%).
Kent Johnson has obliterated the league this season, currently sitting at 40 goals and 61 assists for 101 points, 32 points more than the second-highest scorer (Christophe Tellier, Surrey Eagles). The 17-year-old will head to the University of Michigan next season, along with Smoke Eaters captain Philippe Lapointe. Johnson is expected to be a top-10 pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
The Smoke Eaters have gone 20-6-1 on home ice this year. They are 9-1 in their last 10 home games.
Leading Scorers
Kent Johnson (41-60-101)
Michael Colella (26-39-65)
Owen Ozar (24-39-63)
Philippe Lapointe (20-34-54)
Diarmad DiMurro (6-32-38)
Notable Versus Trail
The Silverbacks and Smokies have faced off five times this season, but they haven’t played one another yet in the new year.
The most recent game was Salmon Arm’s final game before the winter break, an exciting 7-4 victory on Dec. 15 on Teddy Bear Toss night.
Leading the head-to-head scoring is Lapointe, with eight points in just three games. Rybarik, Wakeford and Johnson each have seven points in the H2H games.
Upcoming Milestones
Nick Unruh: 4 goals from 50 career BCHL goals
Noah Wakeford: 2 games from 150 career BCHL games
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.
