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Vipers Defeat Silverbacks 4-1

PHOTO: LISA MAZUREK PHOTOGRAPHY

Salmon Arm, B.C. — The Salmon Arm Silverbacks fell 4-1 to the Vernon Vipers on Friday night at the Shaw Centre.

The Backs are now 2-6-1 in the Okanagan Cup, while the Vipers improve to 3-4-2. The two teams go at it again tomorrow night in Vernon at 6 p.m. There are now three games remaining in the round robin portion of the exhibition tournament.

GAME SUMMARY

The Silverbacks killed off two penalties in the first half of the opening period of play and despite being out-shot by Vernon 15-5, found themselves in a 0-0 deadlock after 20 minutes. While the shots may have indicated one team taking control, it wasn’t a very eventful period on the offensive side of things from either side, with both teams trying to feel the other out.

Just over eight minutes into the second period, the Silverbacks found the game’s first goal, after Carter Loney generated speed out of his own zone and through centre, and then fed a pass to his right to Simon Tassy, whose attempt on goal deflected off of Viper defenceman Desmond Johnson and into his own net.

Following the media timeout shortly after that goal, the Vipers took control of the game.

First, they capitalized on a 2-on-1 rush, with Ethan Mercer beating Riley Kohonick past the blocker to even the score 1-1. Just 1:24 after that, former Calgary Hitmen forward Josh Prokop buried a one-timer to the top corner to give the visitors a 2-1 edge. In the final minute of the second period, defenceman Nick Kent connected with Tyler Carpendale, who got his stick free in front and was able to deposit the puck past Kohonick to make the score 3-1.

The Backs had a couple grade-A scoring chances in the third, but a goal from Zack Tonelli on a rebound in front put the game pretty well out of reach at 4-1 with 12:54 to go in the game.

That same score would hold up as the final, as the Vipers out-shot the Silverbacks 34-22 in the end.

For the full boxscore, click here.

THEY SAID IT

“For us it’s a great learning lesson in today’s game because you have to learn how to win these games. By ‘these games,’ I mean when you have two teams that played structured like this, it’s all about who can capitalize on the momentum you generate. You saw after we scored, we get that little bit of a push and we generate a couple of chances and we aren’t able to capitalize. That TV timeout almost re-sets the game and after that timeout, Vernon comes out a little bit ore energized and fresh, they score that quick goal and I think it’s just on us now to understand, ‘Okay, our mental mistakes can be capitalized on’. Not only can they be capitalized on, but they swing the momentum. And then once that happens, they’re able to press a little bit more, we get on our heels and you saw what happens when you capitalize on momentum, those two quick goals there. Our game awareness two weeks in a row now has led to goals in the last minute of periods. Going into the third down 2-1 versus down 3-1, it’s a completely different game.” – Asst. Coach Carter Cochrane

SILVERBACK TOP PERFORMER

CARTER LONEY

Loney had the primary assist on Tassy’s goal to give him five points in his last five games.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Silverbacks head to Vernon for a rematch on Saturday, with puck drop scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday will be the final H2H game of the round robin between the two.

Fans can stream all games on HockeyTV, plus there will be a free radio stream available as well at mixlr.com/sa-silverbacks.