Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks were defeated 4-1 by the Wenatchee Wild on Sunday night at the Shaw Centre, a loss that drops them to fifth place in the Interior Division.
The Silverbacks currently have a record of 28-22-5, tied with Vernon at 61 points, but the Vipers (29-23-3) hold the tie-breaker, so they sit in fourth place right now. Both teams have played 55 games, while the Wild (30-22-4) are in third place with 64 points in 56 games.
GAME SUMMARY
All the goal scoring in this one happened in the first period of play, with the Wild jumping out to an early lead at the 5:29 mark courtesy of Sam Morton, who fired a wrist shot from the high slot that beat a screened Ethan Langenegger to the glove side.
Just over three minutes later, the Wild doubled their lead on a power play, after Brett Chorske slipped home a rebound while all alone in front of the net.
With 2:47 to go in the opening frame, Wenatchee converted on the power play yet again, this time after Harrison Scott re-directed a puck from in front of the net .
The Silverbacks quickly cut the deficit to 3-1 thanks to Simon Tassy, who re-directed home one of his own just 33 seconds after the Wild scored. Sam Schofield threw a puck to the net from the bottom of the circle and Tassy had good body position on defenceman Drew Bavaro.
This time, however, it was the Wild’s turn to respond, restoring their three-goal advantage 39 seconds later, after Matt Dorsey got a feed from Morton in front and made no mistake.
Late in the second period, Scott was handed a five minute major for charging after he clipped Backs forward Coalson Wolford with a blindside hit, one that forced Wolford from the game. The Silverbacks weren’t able to score on the power play, which was split up by the intermission.
Decent some chances in the remainder of the third period, the Wild did a good job of shutting things down and won the game by the same 4-1 score.
For the full boxscore, click here.
THEY SAID IT
“It’s just little things — there are details now that are non-negotiable. There’s things you can’t teach. It’s just a matter of being able to do it. You have to be willing to sacrifice. You’ve got to be willing to stop and start after a 40-second, 50-second shift. I just think right now we’re missing a key ingredient for what makes you successful — especially at this time of the year. We know that we’ve got the ability, we know that we’ve got the talent. We have everything we need to be able to have success here. We just — collectively as a group — we need to step up and step up together. I just think were missing that right now…it’s just about us being able to find our game. You look at the four goals, they’re preventable. They’re fixable. There’s mistakes that were made, absolutely. It’s just about correcting those. As frustrating as it can be, the positive is that they’re easy fixes. Easy fixes means the solution is easy. It’s just: are we willing to do the work? Are we willing to battle and compete to make sure that it happens all the time? It’s easy to look at it on video — and trust me we’ve been doing a lot of video — and say ‘Okay I know what to do next time.’ But are we going to do it? Are we going to do it when we’re down 4-1 going into the third period?” – Silverbacks assistant coach Carter Cochrane
TOP PERFORMERS
Logan Shaw— Salmon Arm Silverbacks: Shaw once again provided energy all night long and was a key cog on the penalty kill.
“Effort is something that should be there every night and that’s one thing you never have to question with Shawzy. There’s little things that I was talking about here and he’s willing to do those things. He had an absolutely huge blocked shot, he finishes out his shift, he works hard to get off the ice, he goes right down the tunnel and he’s back out for the next shift. He’s a heart and soul guy. He’s a warrior.”
Matt Dorsey — Wenatchee Wild: Dorsey factored in all four Wild goals, finishing with a goal and three helpers. The line of Dorsey, Morton and Wolthers was tough to handle in this contest.
Sam Morton — Wenatchee Wild: Morton had a two-point night and now has eight points in his last three games.
WHAT’S NEXT
Believe it or not, there’s only one week left on the 2019-20 BCHL regular season schedule, and the Backs play three games.
On Wednesday, they head to Chilliwack to take on the Chiefs at 7 p.m. On Friday, they 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.
