If the Salmon Arm SilverBacks can survive the persecution the hockey gods seem to be leveling their way at the moment, it could make them the most battle-hardened team around.
It’s a big ‘if’ right now though. With Brendan Kennedy done for the year with a broken tibia, Alex Jewell sidelined after an appendectomy, Evan Anderson, Ryan Schwalbe and Josh Bowes nursing injuries, the Gorillas are icing a skeleton crew lately.
The results have shown it; the club has lost five straight, including a 2-1 road loss to Penticton Friday and a 4-2 loss at home to Merritt on Feb. 13. They now hold a slim two-point edge over Trail for the final playoff spot, but head coach Scott Robinson is keeping faith because he still likes the effort he’s seeing.
“In a very short time, we’ve gone from healthy to unhealthy in a big way,” noted Robinson. “We got the group together prior to the Penticton game and the guys played absolutely great. I was very, very proud of how hard we played; we’ve just got to carry that on.”
It’s not easy during a prolonged test such as the team is facing right now. Captain Brandon Mistal has been pivotal in continuing to set the tone.
“He’s just a day-in, day-out worker,” said Robinson. “He’s a steady, calming influence on the group and he’s a great leader in that respect.”
He’ll have a new partner in the leadership role now that Kennedy is out for the season. The rugged defenceman will hand over the alternate captaincy to a new player, of his own selection, when he returns to the team after seeing doctors in his hometown of Terrace.
Robinson is certain he’ll make a good choice and the hope is that the good vibes carry over onto the ice where it’s been hard for the team to get any good luck lately. In the loss to Merritt, goals by Shane Hanna in the first and Brayden Sherbinin in the third gave them a 2-1 lead near the midway point of the final frame.
But a bounce of the puck teed up a shot for the Cents’ Jeff Wight in the slot and Brent Fletcher scored the winner 36 seconds later on a shot that somehow found its way through a maze of sticks and skates.
“They were both great shots; no goalie was going to stop those,” said Robinson, adding he doesn’t feel his players are withering under the heat of their current situation. “I’ve got no sense that guys are choking under the pressure or doing anything other than playing as well as we can.”
In hockey, things tend to even out over the course of a season and if that holds true for the SilverBacks, they’re due to get rewarded for their work.
“It’s a matter of staying the course and finding a way to get the big goal at the end or preventing a goal against,” said Robinson.
Salmon Arm hosts Vernon Friday at 7 p.m. in their only remaining game of the month.