It was a frantic finish last night, but Salmon Arm came out with the all important second point in overtime.
Allowing two goal in the span of 1:02, the Silverbacks saw a 1-0 lead turn to a 2-1 deficit. Late heroics from Nick Unruh tied the game at two though, and in overtime a big stop from Ethan Langenegger turned play the other way for Justin Wilson to score the game winner.
Trail scored one of their goals on the power play, and now six of their ten goals against the Silverbacks have come on the man advantage. Verboon scored his 18th of the season for Salmon Arm in the second period moving him to 40 points on the season, and an assist on the game tying goal gave him 41.
In goal, Ethan Langenegger stopped 30 of 32 shots while Adam Marcoux at the other end stopped 29 of 32. It was a relatively quiet for period for both goalies with each team only surrendering seven shots each. With it being a double header, look for both teams to swap their goalies. Salmon Arm has been rotating goalies since they got Matthew Armitage back in October, while the Trail has former WHLer Donovan Buskey waiting for his second BCHL start.
In the Standings:
Forcing overtime was huge for Salmon Arm, and the extra point even more so. A Vernon win in Nanaimo means the Vipers are still just one point behind the Silverbacks, but West Kelowna not playing this weekend means the Silverbacks move to within two points with a game in hand. A win tonight for Salmon Arm would tie the Warriors, but West Kelowna would hold onto the fourth slot in the Interior based on more wins.
A point was good for Trail last night, but that Vernon win moved the Vipers an extra point ahead of the Smoke Eaters. Trail now has 44 points on the season, and both with two games in hand, Salmon Arm is at 49 while the Vipers are at 48.
Vernon plays again tonight taking on the Cowichan Valley Capitals. The Vipers wrap up their road trip tomorrow afternoon playing in Victoria against the Grizzlies.
Players to Watch:
Silverbacks: With Hudson Schandor and Noah Wakeford out of the lineup, their regular linemate Nick Unruh was still able to find the back of the net. He missed ten minutes of the third serving a misconduct, but fresh legs allowed him to score the game tying goal. His 15th goal of the season ended four game goal drought. With his two linemates out of the lineup still, Unruh needs to help churn the scoring engine and he did just that last night. One line that has been lighting things up since they were put together is the group centred by Justin Wilson. Along with Matthew Verboon and John Little, the trio has yet to record a point since they were paired together two weeks ago. Last night was the second game for Wilson against the Smoke Eaters, and he put up a monster performance with the game winner in overtime.
Smoke Eaters: Quiet in the first period last night, Chase Stevenson was much more noticeable in the final two periods and gave his side the go ahead goal in the third period. It wouldn’t stand, but allowed Trail to get at least a point in the game. Leading the Smoke Eaters in points this season. Stevenson has five points in the last four games. With a number of chances last night, Hayden Rowan certainly stood out last night for the Smoke Eaters. A key player on the power play, the Yale commit is third in team goal scoring with 15 on the season.
TUNE IN
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