Friday Salmon Arm beat Wenatchee at home 3-1, and Saturday the Wild won 6-5 to end a six game losing streak in the Town Toyota Center.
Friday night the Silverbacks received a first BCHL goal from Aidan Sutter (who will be playing on the backend tonight as a callup from the Thompson Blazers), a power play goal from John Little for his 10th of the season, and American born Jack Sampson scored in the second period which stood as the game winner. Ethan Langenegger was named the first star of the game stopping 29 of 30 shots. The next night there were 11 goals scored in the 6-5 win, with ten different players finding the back of the net.
Wenatchee got off to a hot start start scoring twice in the first five minutes to get the Town Toyota Center. Shortly after though, rookie defenceman Dylan Herzog stuck out a knee to take down Matthew Verboon providing Salmon Arm a five minute power play. Herzog received a game misconduct, and two game suspension so he won’t be playing in tonight’s game leaving the Wild with just five defencemen. Nick Unruh would score twice on the power play to tie the game, and Olson Werenka scored before the end of the period to give the visitors the lead. In the second, both teams scored once a goal each on the power play. Down 4-3 heading the third, Wenatchee would score a trio including the game winner with 5:12 left in the game.
Tonight kicks off the final trio of games for Salmon Arm in the 2018/19 regular season. Friday the team hosts the Penticton Vees while Saturday the two sides head to Penticton to end the year. In the Shaw Centre this season, Salmon Arm is 16-8-2-1 which is fourth best in the Interior, and just one point behind the Wenatchee Wild who have played two more home games.
STANDINGS:
Winning on Saturday night against Salmon Arm, Wenatchee clinched third in the Interior Division, so in their final two games they won’t go up or down at all. With a come from behind victory over West Kelowna Saturday, the Vernon Vipers moved ahead of Salmon Arm for fourth in the Interior. The Vipers lost Sunday afternoon to Langley though, so Salmon Arm is one point behind with a game in hand and have the tie breaker over Vernon. Fifth in the division, Salmon Arm has a four point cushion on the West Kelowna Warriors who play three more games, and a five point gap over Trail who have two games in hand. Right now Salmon Arm is locked in to finish from fourth to six.
Who to Watch:
Silverbacks: With a pair of goals on Saturday, Nick Unruh scored #20 and #21 of the season. The goals also ended a five game drought for the forward after he had goals in four straight games. He leads the team in points this season against the Wild with five. He lost his overall point streak Friday in Wenatchee, but Matthew Verboon still has a league high 13 straight home games with at least a point. That has him tied with Ryan Brushett of the Powell River Kings for the longest streak this season.
Wild: Back into the lineup tonight for Wenatchee comes leading goal scorer Matt Gosiewski. The second year forward has 27 goals in 48 games with three of those coming in three games against the Silverbacks. He hasn’t played since February 1st when he was injured in a game against the Merritt Centennials. In five games against the Silverbacks this season, team captain Lucas Sowder leads his group with eight points on the year. He is the top point per game player on the team, and on the power play look for him parked to the right of the goal quickly sending pucks across the crease for backdoor opportunities.
