(Photo courtesy: Garrett James)
Langley, BC – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks (6-4-0-0) wrapped up their busy week with a Friday night clash against the Langley Rivermen (0-8-0-2). It was the third game in as many days for the Silverbacks, as they concluded a busy week. In between the pipes it was Matthew Tovell (5-3-0, 2.57 GAA, .9.24 S%) getting his ninth start of the season for the Silverbacks. While on the other end of the ice it was Ajeet Gundarah (0-5-0, 3.24 GAA, .906 S%) getting the nod for the Rivermen.
The Friday night game was also a memorial game to honor the late Ronin Sharma. The former Rivermen tragically passed away in August of 2021.
The first period of play was a back and fourth battle as both teams came out with lots of energy. The period was scoreless but both teams had multiple high danger scoring opportunities. The lone entry to the game sheet came midway through the period as Isaac Lambert went to the box, but the leagues fifth ranked penalty kill was able to keep things scoreless. The highlight of the period came late in the first when Matthew Tovell found a way to get his glove on a Tyler Thorpe shot which looked destined to go in. The shots were 14-9 in favor of the Rivermen after the first period.
Langley started to take things over in the middle frame as they opened the floodgates midway through the period. It was Joseph Messina (2) opening the scoring just under seven minutes into the period for the Rivermen as he was able to beat Tovell on the powerplay. Just a few minutes later it was Tanner Attew (1) getting on the board as he scored on a shot from the blueline. Langley continued to apply the pressure as just a few moments later it was Tyler Thorpe (2) scoring on a brilliant individual effort of his own. The Silverbacks were able to get one back late in the period as Nathan Mackie (8) scored with just under thirty seconds to go in the period. Shots were deadlocked at six a piece in the period.
Early on in the third period it was Tyler Chan (2) once again extending the Rivermen lead to three goals. The Silverbacks started to battle back as the period progressed. Isaac Lambert (5) got the comeback started early in the period as he found a way to beat Gundarah. As the period moved along, it was Salmon Arm pushing the pace of the play, and late in the period they were rewarded. Nathan Morin (3) pulled the Silverbacks within one as he was able to bury one on a rebound. Late in the period it was Ethan Ullrick (5) stayed red hot as he got things tied up with just over one minute remaining to force overtime.
Neither team was able to score in the extra frame which brought the game to a shootout. The lone goal of the shootout came on the first attempt as Andrej Kovacevic scored the eventual game winner. The Rivermen ended up taking down the Silverbacks by a final score of 5-4.
Next up for the Silverbacks will be a return to the Shaw Centre! The ‘Backs will welcome the Cranbrook Bucks into town next Friday night, for a 7:00PM puck drop! You can get your tickets online, or tune into Hockey TV to catch the action!
