Salmon Arm, BC – The Silverbacks busy pre-season schedule continued on Sunday night with a clash against the Merritt Centennials. It was the second of a back-to-back against the Centennials, with game one going in favor of the Silverbacks on Saturday night.
Between the pipes, it was Matthew Tovell for the Silverbacks, squaring off against Johnny Hicks for the Centennials. It was an interesting start to the game as both teams seemed to be working off of last nights eventful third period. The game remained deadlocked through a majority of the first period as both goalies were at the top of their games. A late first period goal from Nathan Mackie proved to be pivotal as he continued his impressive play throughout the pre-season.
The rest of the game saw the teams batting it out for position as the next 40 minutes of play saw no more goals on either side. It wasn’t until late in the third when Jayden Grier, and CJ Foley added empty net goals for the ‘Backs. In the end, Salmon Arm took down Merritt by a final score of 3-0.
Matthew Tovell recorded his first BCHL pre-seshutout in the win as he stopped all 28 shots directed towards him.
With the win, the Silverbacks remain perfect in pre-season play through four games, and have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 19-8. While there has been plenty of goals through four games, it has been done by committee, as there has been 11 different Silverbacks who have found the back of the net.
The Silverbacks will have a few days off before they hit the road to take on the Prince George Spruce Kings on Thursday night at 7:00PM.
The regular season will open up in just 12 days, when the Silverbacks welcome the Vernon Vipers into town on September 23rd.
