Round 1 Playoff Preview:

This is posted on the Silverbacks website:

Round 1 Playoff Preview

February 25, 2019 

Game 1: March 1st @ Kal Tire Place – 7pm

Game 2: March 2nd @ Kal Tire Place – 6pm

Game 3: March 4th @ Shaw Centre – 7pm

Game 4: March 6th @ Shaw Centre – 7pm

Game 5*: March 8th @ Kal Tire Place – 7pm

Game 6*: March 9th @ Shaw Centre – 7pm

Game 7*: March 11th @ Kal Tire Place – 7pm

*if necessary

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THE STORY:

It came right down to the last game, and the last goal sending Salmon Arm into a matchup with the Vernon Vipers. With Salmon Arm losing Saturday night in Penticton, it was a long drive home monitoring the West Kelowna vs Trail game going on in Trail. With a West Kelowna win, the Silverbacks would slip to 6th and play Wenatchee in the first round. With a Trail win, the Silverbacks would remain in 5th place to take on their Southern rival in the Vipers. West Kelowna tied the game with 1:47 remaing, but Trail scored just 17 second into OT. With the playoff setup, Salmon Arm is able to take on a team a 40 minute drive away who they beat 5-1 in the series, opposed to the Wild who are six and a half hours away, plus Salmon Arm was 1-4-1  against the American squad.

This is the second year in a row the Silverbacks take on the Vernon Vipers in Round 1 of the BCHL playoffs. Last season, the Vipers as the #2 seed in the Interior Division swept Salmon Arm. The Silverbacks have seven players (five forwards, and two defencemen) who were part of the Salmon Arm side, while the Vipers have seven returnees as well.

Leaders from last year’s playoffs are:

Salmon Arm – Trevor Adams (1 goal / 3 assists)

Vernon – Jagger Williamson (3 goals / 3 assists) and Jesse Lansdell (6 assists)

HEAD TO HEAD  SERIES:

This season, it was Salmon Arm winning the series five games to one against the Vernon Vipers. Salmon Arm won twice in regulation, twice in overtime, and once in a shootout. Vernon won their single game on home ice 4-1 back in January.

Head to Head series: 5-1 Silverbacks

@Shaw Centre: 3-0 Salmon Arm

@ Kal Tire Place: 2-1 Salmon Arm

	Salmon Arm	Vernon
5 on 5 Goals	11	8
PP Goals	4	7
3 on 3 Goals	2	0
TOTAL	17	15

LEADERS:

Salmon Arm: Leading both teams in points head to head this season, Trevor Adams had three goals and four assists for seven points playing in all six games. After missing three games to suspension, Adams returned last weekend against the Vees adding two assists in the team’s game in the Shaw Centre.  With three goals each, Nick Unruh is second in points with six against the Vipers, and Matthew Verboon has five in total. Verboon was the goal goal scorer in the team’s last meeting where Salmon Arm lost 4-1. In goal, Ethan Langenegger started three of the six games winning all three, and was named the second star in two of the games.

Vernon: Two Vipers hit five points this season against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. Defenceman Michael Young led the entire group with three goals enroute to a five point season playing in all six games. Held to playing five games against his former team, Josh Latta also had five points this season against Salmon Arm. Latta missed the later part of the season, but was hot up to that point with 12 points in 12 games since the trade deadline. Scoring two goals and two assists, Ben Helgeson and Connor Marritt each had four points against Salmon Arm. Marritt has been the team’s top scorer since the trade deadline scoring 15 points in 13 games. In goal, Aidan Porter started all six games against Salmon Arm.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

As shown in the goals graphic above, nearly half of Vernon’s goals this season against Salmon Arm came on the power play. The only game Vernon didn’t score a power play goal was November 23rd when Matthew Armitage turned away 31 shots for his first BCHL shutout. Overall the Vipers were 7 for 25 on the power play, while the Silverbacks were 4 for 24. One of the four Salmon Arm PP goals came in Kal Tire Place. Overall in the standings, Vernon finished 15th in the league for their power play percentage at 18.2% while the Silverbacks were 6th at 21.5%. The penalty kill for the Silverbacks was also sixth with a 81.6% success rate, while the Vipers in 7th were right behind them at 81.2%.

COMING IN:

February was a very split month for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. They started things off by winning a pair of games against the West Kelowna Warriors, and then went on to beat Coquitlam and Trail to match a season high four game winning streak. The of the double header against Trail they lost 10-3, and that set off a stretch where Salmon Arm would win one of their final seven games. The last six of the season were all against top teams not just in the league, but the division as well which should serve as good practice heading into the toughest time of the year.

Vernon’s final two months have been very hot for a team that was hovering around the bottom of the divsion heading into 2019. January saw them win eight of 10 games, and in February the team finished with a 6-3-1. In the final month of play, they never won or lost more than twice in a row. Vernon did have the worst home record in the Interior Division only winning 12 of their 28 games in Kal Tire Place.