The Penticton Vees (38-12-1-2) look for their fifth win in a row tonight against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (20-28-3-3) at the SOEC, on their annual Pink the Rink night in support of Anti-Bullying Awareness.
The Vees will be wearing their pink Cobs Bread Anti-Bullying jerseys and fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of Anti-Bullying awareness.
Season Series:
November 4th Vees 4 at Silverbacks 1
December 2nd Silverbacks 4 at Vees 3 (OT)
December 16th Silverbacks 2 at Vees 3 (OT)
December 17th Vees 2 at Silverbacks 5
January 22nd Vees 2 at Silverbacks 5
February 18th Silverbacks at Vees 6 pm
Vees Scoring vs. Silverbacks
| Owen Sillinger | 2-2-4 |
| Chris Klack | 1-3-4 |
| Duncan Campbell | 3-0-3 |
| Grant Cruikshank | 1-2-3 |
| Taylor Ward | 1-2-3 |
Silverbacks Scoring vs. Vees
| Connor Sundquist | 2-4-6 |
| Carson Bolduc | 0-6-6 |
| Elijiah Barriga | 4-1-5 |
| Ryley Booth | 1-3-4 |
| Justin Wilson | 3-0-3 |
Last night Mat Robson stopped all 26-shots he faced and Ty Amonte scored a pair of goals, as the Vees won their fourth in a row, 5-0 over the West Kelowna Warriors. Duncan Campbell, Grant Cruikshank and Nicholas Jones also scored in the win. Amonte, Campbell, Jones, Griffin Mendel and Owen Sillinger all had two point games.
It was a chippy affair as 160 penalty minutes and nine misconducts were handed out to the two teams.
Friday was Robson’s second straight shutout, as he’s now stopped the last 59 shots he faced, going back to last Saturday against Wenatchee. In fact, Robson hasn’t surrendered a goal in over 157-minutes going back to February 8th against Trail.
Salmon Arm is also coming off a shutout win, blanking the Alberni Valley Bulldogs at home 4-0 last night, as they clinched the final playoff spot in the Interior; the win eliminated the Bulldogs from playoff contention in the Island Division. Akito Hirose, Nathan Iannone, Connor Sundquist and Justin Wilson scored for the Silverbacks and Nic Tallarico made 27-saves for his second shutout of the season.
Though there’s a 33 point gap between the two teams in the standings, the Vees have had their struggles against the Silverbacks this season. Through five games, the Vees have just two wins against the Apes and haven’t beaten them since December 16th. Salmon Arm has posted back to back 5-2 wins over the Vees, both of those coming at the Shaw Centre; tonight is the sixth and final meeting between the two in the regular season.
Nolan Hildebrand will get the start in goal tonight and is coming off a win in Trail back on February 10th. Hildebrand is 6-2 season, owning a 2.77 goals-against average and sports a .906 save percentage. In his last start, Hildebrand was named the first star, stopping 31 of 32 shots against the Smokies. Mat Robson is your probable starter tomorrow afternoon against the Victoria Grizzlies.
Mitch Meek, Sam Rossini and Taylor Sanheim remain out due to injury and Greg Brydon will slide back into the line-up. Gabe Bast will sit tonight but will be back in the line-up tomorrow.
Captain Nicholas Jones enters tonight’s game with points in five straight, and has a pair of goals and eight points during his point streak. Jones leads the Vees in scoring with 58 points in 53 games, 11 points ahead of the Grant Cruikshank (47).
Owen Sillinger has the points lead against Salmon Arm, as the 19-year-old has two goals and four points in five games against the ‘Backs. Chris Klack also has four points (1-3-4) and Duncan Campbell has three goals.
Salmon Arm’s Carson Bolduc is on a tear, as the veteran forward is riding a 12-game point streak coming into tonight’s game; in those 12 games he has six goals and 19 points. Bolduc leads the ‘Backs in assists (39), points (57), power-play assists (15) and game-winning goals (5). Elijiah Barriga, who’s second in team scoring, loves playing against Penticton. In 12 career games against the Vees, Barriga has 10 goals and 14 points, including two goals in their 5-2 back on January 22nd.
The Vees busy weekend continues tomorrow afternoon, as they host the Island Division leading Victoria Grizzlies at 2 pm; right after the game the Vees will be doing their annual awards ceremony on the ice. Salmon Arm goes back home tomorrow face Merritt at 3 pm.
Tonight’s game can be heard on EZ Rock AM 800 locally, or via the iHeartRadio app on your iPhone, iPad, smartphone and or tablet. The game is also available via the BCHL webcast at www.HockeyTV.com
