Salmon Arm, B.C. — It was yet another successful weekend for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, as they disposed of both the previously undefeated Powell River Kings and the Victoria Grizzlies to push their season-opening winning streak to an impressive five games.
Now, they’ll take their 5-0 record into West Kelowna to face a Warriors team that has only won once in their first seven games (1-5-1).
This is the already the second meeting between the two clubs, following a 4-1 Salmon Arm triumph in their home opener on Sept. 8. It’s the first H2H game against former Silverback forward Trevor Adams, who was traded last week, and also the first weekday game for the Backs. West Kelowna will face Salmon Arm four more times this season after tonight: twice in October, once in November and once in February.
3 Storylines
1) Score First
Five times the Silverbacks have scored the first goal of the game so far this season and five times they have taken the two points. Playing with the lead for most of the season so far has certainly helped. The Silverbacks have only trailed for 21:09 of the 305 total minutes in the books up to this point. Scoring the first goal again on Tuesday will help continue their winning ways.
2) Special Teams
The Silverbacks currently have the league’s third-best penalty kill, at 91.3%, and their also have the BCHL’s third-best power play, at 25%. When you add those numbers together (what the coaching staff calls the ‘Bowman’ number), you get 116.3. That number is a sign that special teams have gone incredibly well, as even 105 is typically strong (at the end of last season, the Backs’ number was 103.1, which was the third highest in the league).
The Warriors, meanwhile, have a ‘Bowman number’ of 80.5 right now, which shows their special teams are struggling mightily (13.8% PP and 66.7% PK). They are still without veteran forward Parm Dhaliwal and captain Jake Harrison, which certain factors in.
3) Limit Shots Against
The Backs defensive effort was strong on Friday against the Kings, when they only surrendered 26 shots on goal. On Saturday, they let 32 get by to goaltender Dylan Kruss. What the team will likely focus on is limiting ‘uncontested shots.’ So far, the club has out-shot the opposition in each and every game. With the forward depth of the Silverbacks, there hasn’t really been a problem of creating, more so just making sure they do their best to keep the opponent to around 25 shots, as opposed to 30+.
Players to Watch
SILVERBACKS: AKITO HIROSE
It’s hard not to choose one of Poirier, Rybarik or Wakeford, as the trio have combined for 28 points through just five games, but we’re going to go with the captain for this one. Akito Hirose had two primary assists in the third period of Saturday’s win over Victoria and that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what he can do. It’s going to happen sooner or later: a game where Hirose completely takes over. Could it be tonight?
WARRIORS: LEVI STAUBER
Stauber enters with a four-game point streak that includes four goals and two assists for six points. The Michigan Tech commit has seven points in seven games on the season as a whole.
Tune In
Tonight’s game will be aired on 91.5 EZ Rock as always, with the pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. All games are also streamed live on HockeyTV.
