Silverbacks’ forward Nick Unruh returned to the ice with a vengeance Friday night, scoring three goals and pulling off a hat trick in his first game back after an injury.
Salmon Arm faced off with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs Friday, Oct. 19 on home ice, locking down a 5-3 victory that puts them back on track after two shut-out losses to Prince George and Merritt.
The game kicked off with the Silverbacks being put on the back-foot as the Bulldogs fired two into the Salmon Arm net in the first period. Ryan Miotto scored four minutes in off the assist from Jackson Doucet, and Mitch Deelstra followed up just after 11 minutes off an assist from Darren Rizzolo and Aaron Bolhinger.
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It was shortly after Deelstra’s goal for Alberni Valley that Nick Unruh started his scoring streak, showing some serious grace under pressure as he took a pass from Ethan McLaughlin, shot on the Bulldogs’ net, circled around behind and snapped his own rebound past a sprawled-out Alberni Valley goaltender for the Silverbacks’ first goal of the night.
As the first period rolled into the second, the Silverbacks found themselves on the tail end of a power play that was carried over from the first. Unruh took full advantage of the extra man on the ice and found himself a clean spot to take a pass from Akito Hirose and land his second goal of the game past the Bulldogs’ goalie.
The Silverbacks inched out a lead late in the second period as Olson Werenka kept control of the puck during a line change, setting up Noah Wakeford and Tyson Gayfer for a hard push into a near-empty Alberni Valley zone and Gayfer landed a shot that made the score 3-2 for Salmon Arm.
The Bulldgos’ Miotto would score his second of the game just after two minutes into the third, tying the game up at 3-3. The Silverbacks penalty-kill had to rise to the challenge shortly afterwards, keeping the score tied while down a player.
Salmon Arm would get their own shot at a power-play 16 minutes in, taking full advantage of a short five-on-three situation as Alberni Valley took two penalties that overlapped. Matthew Verboon and Akito Hirose did some quick back-and-forth passing work and set up Trevor Adams for a goal that put the Silverbacks in the lead once again.
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The 4-3 contest continued for the remaining few minutes of the period, with Alberni Valley pulling their goalie but failing to take advantage of the extra player. Nick Unruh saw his chance at the elusive hat-trick and took a pass from Hudson Schandor before flicking the puck into the empty net and sealing the victory for Salmon Arm at 5-3 with just 14 seconds remaining.
During the first intermission, a selection of fans got the chance to attempt a shot from the far blue-line to win a brand new Jeep from Braby Motors. It was a tough shot to attempt, and none of the fans managed to land the feat of hockey finesse — even Kong, the Silverbacks’ mascot, shot wide and didn’t seem too pleased about it.
The Silverbacks return to home ice this Sunday, Oct. 21 against the Vernon Vipers. This will be the first time they face off in regular season play this year after a tense overtime loss for the Silverbacks in their final game of the playoff series last season.
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