The Silverbacks got off to a frightful start on Halloween night against the West Kelowna Warriors at the Shaw Centre in a home-and-home series.
Just 12 seconds into the game the BCHL’s top scorer, Liam Blackburn intercepted a pass and moved the puck forward to Jason Cotton, whose rebound was slotted home by Michael Buonincontri.
Josh Bly scored his first goal of the season, and doubled up the Warriors lead in the first period.
“We started out flat, had a pretty good second period, we didn’t give anything up, but we also didn’t gain anything,” said Silverbacks assistant coach Misko Antisin.
At the start of the third period the Silverbacks still found themselves trailing by two.
The game was flipped on its head in a mere minute and 27 second span of time, which saw the Silverbacks score three goals, taking the lead and electrifying the 1,094 fans.
Chase Priskie’s third goal of the season jump-started the ’Backs offence, on a shot from the point that found its way through heavy traffic in front of the Warriors goaltender, Anthony Desautels.
Shane Danyluk scored the tying goal 19 seconds after Priskie’s marker, on a rebound in front of the net.
Just over a minute later, Karl El-Mir received a pass from Taro Hirose in the neutral zone and picked out the top corner of the net from the right wing for the go-ahead-goal, his second of the season.
“El-Mir has really been rolling for us lately and he’s starting to really get into his game and he put that one top shelf,” said head coach Brandon West.
Ten seconds after a Carson Bolduc penalty expired, the Warriors’ Bly scored his second of the game, equalizing the game at three, and forcing overtime.
West Kelowna would find the game winner with 28 seconds remaining in the second overtime period of three-on-three play.
Andrew Johnson scored the overtime winner on a rebound, beating a sprawled out Angus Redmond.
The ’Backs travelled to West Kelowna for the second half of their home-and-home series with the Warriors on Saturday evening.
Taro Hirose scored a late equalizer with 52 seconds remaining in the game to force overtime for the second time in as many nights.
Liam Blackburn, the league’s leading scorer found the back of the net just over a minute into the first overtime period, winning the game by the same score as the previous night, 4-3.
Despite holding the BCHL’s third best power play, the Silverbacks went zero for five over the weekend against West Kelowna’s eighth ranked penalty kill.
“We had a couple good looks on the power play, but looked unorganized,” said West.
“A guy like Taylor Maruya, who has played on our power play for two years, is a key player we are missing there.”
The ’Backs head to the Lower Mainland this evening to play the defending BCHL champions, Coquitlam Express, before returning home on Friday Nov. 7 for a home-and-home with Interior Division rivals, Vernon.
Despite the up and down nature of the Silverbacks’ season so far, West says the attitude in the room is still positive.
“We’re so close right now to getting over this hump,” said West.
It is still likely that Taylor Maruya will not be in the lineup for the three upcoming games, as he is still day-to-day.