Salmon Arm, B.C. – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks kicked off a home-and-home series against the Merritt Centennials at the Shaw Centre on Friday night.
It was a quiet first period with both teams trying to find their momentum. The Silverbacks had the lone powerplay in the opening period when Ocean Fancy was sent to the box for a holding call, which the Silverbacks were not able to capitalize on.
The Centennials got on the board and were able to hold a lead in the second period. Halfway through the period, Luke Pfoh finished off a rush down the ice for the first goal of the game. There were no penalties handed out in the middle frame.
The Silverbacks were able to grab a brief lead in the third period but the Centennials were not going down without a fight. Coming out of the BCHL media timeout, Ty Paisley sniped the top corner for his tenth goal of the season, tying things up 1-1. Less than a minute later, with all the momentum on Salmon Arm’s side, Patrick Raftery tipped in a point shot to give the Silverbacks the 2-1 lead late in the final frame. The energy came to a halt when Casy Laylin was called for a trip, sending the Silverbacks to the penalty kill. On the ensuing powerplay, Jaxson Murray and the Centennials tied up the game to send it to overtime.
10 minutes of 3-on-3 overtime didn’t solve anything, even though both teams had solid scoring opportunities. In the overtime period, the Silverbacks outshot the Centennials 6-5.
The 1,440 fans in attendance at the Shaw Centre got their money’s worth as the shootout lasted 11 rounds but it was Jack Ziliotto who scored the game winner for the Centennials for the 3-2 win.
Despite the loss, Eli Pulver made 30/32 saves.
