Duncan, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks wrapped up their three-game Island road trip with a 5-0 loss to the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Sunday afternoon at Cowichan Community Centre.
Their record now stands at 19-13-2, good for third place in the Interior Division.
GAME SUMMARY
The Capitals came out buzzing in this one, establishing their forecheck and out-shooting the Backs 5-0 early on. They had a goal disallowed at the 6:53 mark of the first after Zach Brooks was called for hooking Hunter Sansbury. Because of the tug, the puck went right from Sansbury to Will Arquiett, who one-timed it home, but the penalty had been called and so the goal was called back.
Halfway through the period, the Backs would go to their first kill, and the Capitals made them pay, opening the scoring at the 11:51 mark off the stick of Matthew Crasa. Crasa walked in to the face-off dot on the right side and beat Langenegger to the far side post with tons of traffic in front.
Not long after, Crasa had a second power play goal disallowed, this time after Langenegger was interfered with.
After one period, the score was 1-0 for the Capitals, who had a 15-5 lead in shots on goal.
The Silverbacks were whistled for consecutive penalties in the beginning of the second period, and once again the lethal Capitals power play converted, not once, but twice. First, while on a 5-on-3, Brady Lynn took a cross-ice pass and made it 2-0 at the 4:22 mark, and then Dimitri Mikrogiannakis buried the biscuit just 1:24 later on the ensuing 5-on-4. Capitals defenceman Tyrell Boucher made it a 4-0 game at the 11:35 mark of the period after coming down the left wing and firing a shot short side.
Under a minute after that goal, Hunter Sansbury pinched up the right wall in the offensive zone and delivered a hit that the Capitals weren’t pleased about, leading to Dan McIntyre jumping the Silverback defender and getting handed nine minutes in penalties — five for fighting, two for instigating and two for being the aggressor, along with a game misconduct. Sansbury was given two minutes for charging.
Unfortunately, the Silverbacks couldn’t generate much offence on their extended power play, and the second period ended with the deficit still at 4-0.
The Silverbacks were better in the third period, but still couldn’t beat goaltender Ben Howard. The Caps added a goal in the final minute on a breakaway to make it a 5-0 final.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
Dimitri Mikrogiannakis, Cowichan Valley Capitals: Mikrogiannakis registered three points on the afternoon, including a power play goal, to take sole possession of first in scoring amongst defencemen in the BCHL, with 35 points.
Ethan Langenegger, Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Despite the high goal total, Langenegger kept the Silverbacks in the game in the first period and early second and had no chance on any of the power play markers.
Matthew Crasa, Cowichan Valley Capitals: Crasa opened the scoring and also had a goal waived off in the first period. He now has 18 goals this season, including eight on the power play.
For the full boxscore, click here.
STAT OF THE GAME
3 Cowichan Power Play Goals: The Caps entered the game with a 29.2% power play efficiency on home ice and they showed why. They were able to generate lots of traffic in front of Ethan Langenegger and also moved the puck from east to west with too much ease.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Silverbacks only have two games remaining before the Winter Break, as they’ll travel to Wenatchee on Friday, Dec. 13 to take on the Wild and then host the Trail Smoke Eaters in the annual Teddy Bear Toss game on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m.
The contest can be heard on 91.5 EZ Rock with the pre-game show starting at 1:30 p.m. Fans can also stream the game on HockeyTV.
