In a weekend split with the Langley Rivermen and West Kelowna Warriors, the Salmon Arm SilverBacks would probably prefer their win came against their division rival, rather than a Mainland opponent.
But that’s not how it worked out as they downed Langley 4-1 Saturday night and then were defeated by the same score by the Warriors the next day. In the loss, Salmon Arm’s fifth at the hands of the Warriors this season, the ’Backs were handed three-straight chances on the man advantage in the first but came away empty.
“I think not scoring on those power plays was disheartening to our group,” said SilverBacks associate head coach Brandon West, who ran the bench on the weekend with Troy Mick away on a recruiting trip. “I give full credit to the West Kelowna penalty killing; they shut us down well before we got in their zone. We didn’t have the pace that we talk about and that we look for.”
It was perhaps another symptom of a recurring malady the team has shown this season where they count too much on the skill of individual players instead of a reliable effort level.
“I think when you have a fast, skilled team like we do, you tend to rely on your skill rather than your work ethic,” said West. “We tell the guys to count on our system, then our work ethic, and then our skill to win games. (Against West Kelowna) we just didn’t feel like we had that work ethic early on.”
The Warriors scored three times in the middle frame and made it 4-1 before an Alex Gillies power-play goal broke up Andy Desautels’ shutout bid.
“Their goaltending was solid that night,” said West. “I didn’t feel we had a whole ton of chances but when we did, he was there.”
Saturday night saw the ’Backs get revenge against the Rivermen for an overtime loss Nov. 22 in Langley. It was three quick goals in the first period, including tallies from defencemen Cole McCaskill and Blake Box, that paved the way. West has been pleased with the offensive contributions from the blueline corps.
“I thought they’ve been contributing nicely thus far,” he said. “Some people might look at our secondary scoring and that’s where it’s coming from, our back end.”
For Box, it was his first goal of the season and came shortly after the announcement of his NCAA commitment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Box’s goal was followed 1:06 later by a Max Becker power-play marker and Salmon Arm took a 3-0 lead into the intermission.
“I think Langley tightened up their game and we probably didn’t get the scoring chances as the game went on,” said West. “By no means did we sit back; we continued to push and that was good on our guys.”
Alex Gillies, who was pulling the trigger himself early in the season, set up three in the victory.
Salmon Arm had a light skate Monday and travelled to Trail for a Tuesday night game (past Observer deadline). They host the Vernon Vipers Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Teddy Bear Toss will be featured and go to Merritt Sunday for a 2 p.m. start.