Salmon Arm, B.C. – After nearly a month of road games, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks returned to the Shaw Centre for a matchup against the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Fresh off a shutout 8-0 lose to the Vernon Vipers in last night’s (November 3) game, the Spruce Kings made sure to get a goal early in this game. Three minutes in, Brogan McNeil found himself in behind the defensemen and sprung on the breakaway, where he made no mistake snapping it blocker side for his first career BCHL goal. Four minutes later it was the Silverbacks with an answer when Ty Paisley connected a beautiful saucer pass to Isaac Lambert, giving him a brief breakaway, and flipping it over the glove to tie up the game. Not giving any time to celebrate, on the ensuing faceoff, Quinn Disher buried home a rebound just later to give the Spruce Kings the lead.
The second period saw the first penalties in the game. Four minutes in, Aidan Souligny would be sent to the box for cross-checking. Right before the BCHL media timeout, Tristan Taylor would sit for a rare one, throwing the stick or object penalty, when he pushed a broken stick on the ice to try and defend the rush. As the middle frame was coming to an end, Nick Wolfenberg was caught on an interference call. All three penalties were successfully killed off for both teams.
Down by one heading into the third period, the Silverbacks ramped up the offensive intensity and were rewarded in a big way. With six minutes left, Tristan Allen threw the puck on net from the point and it got through traffic to tie up the game 2-2. Two minutes later, Reid Varkonyi gave the Silverbacks the lead when he led a two-on-one into the zone and fired the puck under the blocker himself. With two minutes left in the game and the net empty, Casy Laylin stripped the puck beside the net and had an easy tap-in goal for the insurance marker, making it a 4-2 game.
The Silverbacks outshot the Spruce Kings, 44-20, with Eli Pulver making 18/20 saves in the win.
