The Salmon Arm Silverbacks came away from the past weekend’s games with a win and a loss against tough opposition.
The Silverbacks scored early and often against the visiting Merritt Centennials at the Shaw Centre on Oct. 6.
The home team found the back of Merritt’s net just :17 seconds into the game and didn’t let up pressure for the full 60 minutes on their way to a 7-4 win.
After Silverbacks captain Grayson Constable opened the scoring, Tanner Campbell snuck one past ’Cents goalie Jacob Berger — his first of two goals in a first-star performance.
Early in the second frame Rhett Kingston tallied up another goal for the ‘Backs.
With Merritt’s Colten Gerlib in the box following a hooking call, Trey Thomas took advantage of a pass from Trevor Adams to make the score 4-0 Silverbacks.
Merritt’s Alex Bourhas got his team on the board late in the third.
Campbell, Marcus Mitchell and Nick Unruh added to the ‘Backs’ total in the third, leaving the score 7-1 for the home team with nine minutes to play.
The Centennials mustered a flurry of offence to finish the game, scoring a shorthanded goal with four minutes remaining and then two more in the final minute, but it was too little too late.
“Other than the last five minutes that’s what it’s supposed to look like at least mostly,” said Silverbacks head coach Scott Atkinson.
“Friday was the best example of what we’re hoping for in the future”
The following night at Royal LePage Place in West Kelowna the Silverbacks took the ice against a fresh West Kelowna Warriors squad while still feeling the fatigue of the game against Merritt.
“It was a real even game. The learning for our team is we probably should’ve conserved more energy from the night before,” Atkinson said.
The Warriors capitalized on a power play opportunity just after the halfway point of the opening frame and then scored again in the final seconds of the period.
Atkinson said the ‘Backs would have had a better chance of the game going their way if they hadn’t given up what he described as a weak goal at the end of the period.
In the second, Austin Chorney skated in alone to pick up an unassisted power play goal making the score 2-1 as the game entered the third period. Atkinson said the Silverbacks controlled play in the second frame, generating many scoring chances, but West Kelowna’s goalie played well.
Less than five minutes into the third the ‘Backs found themselves with two men in the penalty box. Warriors’ forward Chase Stevenson slipped one past Bo Didur in net for the Silverbacks assisted by Michael Ryan and Parm Dhaliwal.
Bennett Norlin scored on the empty net with two minutes remaining sealing a 4-1 defeat for Salmon Arm.
West Kelowna outshot Salmon Arm by a slim margin, 39-35.
The Silverbacks faced the Langley Rivermen in a rare midweek game at the Shaw Centre after the Observer’s print deadline on October 10.