Chilliwack, B.C. — Daniel Rybarik scored two clutch third-period goals for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Wednesday night to lift his club over the Chilliwack Chiefs 5-4.
The Silverbacks now have a record of 29-22-5, tied with Vernon at 63 points, but the Vipers (30-23-3) hold the tie-breaker, so they sit in fourth place right now. Both teams have played 56 games, while the Wenatchee Wild (30-22-4) are in third place with 64 points in 56 games.
GAME SUMMARY
The Backs started the game a little bit behind the eight-ball, getting out-shot 10-3 in the first half of the period and surrendering the game’s first goal at the 8:32 mark. Chiefs defenceman Hudson Thornton blasted a one-timer from the blue line that hit the post and went past Ethan Langenegger to give the home side the early lead.
After one period of play, the 1-0 deficit remained.
Chilliwack doubled their lead 2:54 into the second period, getting a goal from Brett Rylance just seconds after another Chiefs power play expired.
Not long after, the Silverbacks woke up and dominated the rest of the period.
First, defenceman Jeremy Gervais — fresh off an NCAA commitment to Lake Superior State — ripped a one-timer from the right point that beat goaltender Mathieu Caron cleanly past his left pad. Affiliate Josh Olson began the play by entering the zone and firing a shot just over the goal, which led to Jarrod Semchuk’s cross-ice pass to Gervais before the goal.
Just under three minutes later, Gervais sent a wrist shot towards the net from the point that was re-directed by Rybarik and landed right on the stick of Sam Schofield, who had an empty-net staring him in the face. Schofield made no mistake for his third of the year.
The Silverbacks would then get a 5-on-3 power play opportunity after Tassy was hit from behind in the offensive zone. Although they couldn’t capitalize, they kept the momentum going with some solid looks.
With under four minutes to go in the third period, Simon Tassy scored for the fifth time in the last four games to give the Backs their first lead of the game. Drew Bennett fed a pass to Kieran Ruscheinski, who fired a quick shot on goal, before Tassy cleaned up the garbage on the backhand.
After two periods, the Silverbacks led 3-2 and had an 18-16 edge in shots on goal, after out-shooting Chilliwack 14-5 in the middle frame.
Under two minutes into the third period, the Chiefs drew even on another power play, thanks to Jack Agnew’s shot from the top of the left circle.
The Backs responded 2:49 later, after Rybarik caused a turnover behind the Chiefs net. His pressure behind the Chilliwack net allowed Wakeford to sneak in and steal the puck, before sending a no-look backhand pass to Rybarik at the side of the net. Rybarik made a confident move out front and out-waited Caron, before slipping it past his right pad and into the net.
The Chiefs wouldn’t go down easy, however, as rookie Nikita Nesterenko tied the game 4-4 with 2:49 remaining in the third after he launched a wicked shot off the bar and in from the left face-off circle.
Literally eight seconds later, Rybarik had the answer, dashing down the right wing and firing a quick shot that was blocked, but then depositing the rebound to hit the 30-goal mark on the season and restore the Silverbacks lead at 5-4.
The Chiefs pulled the goaltender but didn’t come close to tying it, as the Backs picked up the massive two points.
For the full boxscore, click here.
THEY SAID IT
“Overall, it was a really good job from us on the road to come in here and battle through a little bit of adversity in the end there. In the third, they tie it up early and you knew they were going to push as the home team. They’re a desperate hockey club right now going through a bit of a rough stretch. We knew we were going to have to weather a bit of a storm in the third and they did a good job of tying it up in the third early. We did a great job responding after they tied it up at four. Credit to Rybarik — I feel like he hasn’t scored a big goal like that in a while. He did a lot of that at the beginning of the year, where it seemed like every time we needed a goal late in the third period, he was the guy who was burying. No better time for him to get going on that train than right now.” – Silverbacks assistant coach Carter Cochrane
TOP PERFORMERS
Daniel Rybarik— Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Rybarik not only hit a milestone with his 30th of the year, but he got his eighth game-winning-goal of the season, which is tied for the most in the BCHL. He also added an assist and now has 48 points this season.
Jeremy Gervais – Salmon Arm Silverbacks: On the day he announced his NCAA commitment, Gervais scored his first as a Silverback and dished out an assist. He is now up to 17 points in 15 games as a Back, since being acquired at the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
Sam Schofield — Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Schofield had a goal and an assist after getting an opportunity to play with Rybarik and Noah Wakeford.
WHAT’S NEXT
There are now only two games left on the 2019-20 BCHL regular season schedule.
On Friday, the Backs take on the Trail Smoke Eaters on the road at 7 p.m. and on Sunday they wrap up the regular season with a home matinee against the Merritt Centennials at 3 p.m.
All games this season can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game shows starting half an hour before puck drop. Fans can also stream games on HockeyTV.
