The Silverbacks hit the ice for a pair of back-to-back games against the Vernon Vipers over the weekend to wrap up their pre-season matches with two shootout finishes.
In the first game, on home ice at the Shaw Centre Aug. 31, the Vipers started off the scoring just after seven minutes into the first period, with the remainder of the opening period remainign scoreless.
The second period saw Vernon putting another point on the board after a turnover to make it 2-0 in Vernon’s favour.
The 2-0 advantage was short lived, however, as Salmon Arm’s Matthew Verboon would respond just 16 seconds later with a goal of his own for the home team after picking the puck out from the faceoff and pushing hard up the left side of the ice.
Related: Silverbacks fall to West Kelowna Warriors in overtime
The board would even up just after four minutes into the third period as Silverbacks forward Wyatt Marlow slapped in a shot off a rebound from Andy Stevens. The rest of regulation play would again see both teams killing penalties and trying to make the most of power-play advantages before the 2-2 game went into overtime.
After losing just five seconds into their last overtime against West Kelowna the week before, the Silverbacks went into the extra frame against Vernon hungry for a better performance. After five minutes of back and forth on the ice, neither team was able to score and the game went into a shootout.
The shootout competition ended favourably for the Silverbacks, seeing them put in two shots while Ethan Langenegger stopped both attempts from Vernon. Justin Wilson and Matthew Verboon both landed excellent finesse shots during the shootout, making it a 3-2 shootout victory for the Silverbacks.
Facebook/Salmon Arm Silverbacks
The ‘Backs were on the ice again in Vernon the following night for a rematch against the Vipers in their final pre-season game, and it would be a rough-and-tumble matchup.
In the first period, after a hit-from-behind by former Silverback Austin Chorney, a fight broke out, followed by a second brawl later in the period, along with several early-game penalties. Silverbacks defenceman Andy Stevens would break out from the blue-line and make it a 1-0 lead for Salmon Arm.
Related: Salmon Arm Minor Hockey partners with Silverbacks for upcoming season
The Silverbacks would try and double that lead in the opening minutes of the second period, but Nick Unruh was stonewalled by a pair of breathtaking saves from Vipers’ goalie Aidan Hosein. Vernon would look to even up the scoring just moments later with a strong two-on-one play that was stonewalled by Silverbacks goaltender Andrew Slobiski. Vernon would even up the score later in the second on a power-play goal but the scoreboard would remain 1-1 into the third.
Hudson Schandor of the Silverbacks would score his first pre-season goal late in the third to make it 2-1 for Salmon Arm, but the score would be tied up again just three minutes later by Teddy Woodling of Vernon. For the second night in a row Vernon and Salmon Arm played a scoreless overtime period and went into a shootout to decide the victory.
the Silverbacks couldn’t replicate the 2-0 shootout performance from the previous night, however, seeing their luck reverse as both of their shots hit the post while Josh Prokop and Ben Hegelson of Vernon both hit the back of the net with their shootout offerings.
Youtube/Salmon Arm Silverbacks
The Silverbacks regular season home-opener hits the ice at the Shaw Centre Sept. 7 at 7 p.m., tickets and season information can be found at www.sasilverbacks.com.
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