Sunday, September 20, 2009

Game 5 - vs Salmon Arm Silverbacks

Game Preview - After a rare Saturday night off, the Spruce Kings find themselves rested following a Friday night shutout victory over the Merritt Centennials and ready to take on an opponent that has posted two back to back wins already this weekend. On Friday night the Salmon Arm Silverbacks were in Williams Lake where they took two points away from the Timberwolves with a convincing 9-5 victory.

Salmon Arm had a big second period scoring six times including a penalty shot goal, a power play goal, a short handed goal and three even strength goals scored less than two minutes apart. There werer a total of seventeen powerplays and perhaps surprisingly it was the Timberwolves that had twelve man advantage situations. The Silverbacks were lethal with their five opportunities with the extra man registering three power play goals. In all of the goal scoring, only two Silverbacks scored more than once in the game with Mark Zengerle and Greg Noyes picking up a pair each.

On the same night the Spruce Kings were rewarded for their continued hard work with a 2-0 shutout win. Justin Fillion opened the scoring on a big of lucky bounce when the pucked hopped over Brooks Robinson's stick and came out to the high slot. Thinking shot from the edge of the faceoff circle, Cole Holowenko committed to the hard shot and found himself out of position for the resulting shot from Fillion.

The score stayed at 1-0 until late in the third period when Joe Morgan found himself sprung along the left wall with only one defender to beat. Morgan found not one but two extra gears in his stride and was able to beat the Merritt Centennials defenceman in front of his own bench and then went hard across the face of the net. When Holowenko was forced to open up to stay with the speedy Morgan, Joe just slipped the puck through the five hole.

The goal immediately changed the whole mood of the game as the Spruce Kings gained their confidence back and brought out frustration in the Merritt Centennials that was exemplified by a questionable hit on Clayton McEwan. The hit delivered by Silvan Harper was the second of two in a row by the rookie forward and was immediately addressed by Luke Hannas who came to the aid of his team mate. The Spruce Kings rookie did get assessed a five minute major that the Spruce Kings were able to kill off.

On Saturday night the Spruce Kings only practiced as they had a rare Saturday night off from the game, the Silverbacks on the other hand were in tough in Quesnel. The Millionaires established a 2-0 lead on the 'backs only to see that evaporate into a 2-2 regulation time time resulting in overtime. The comeback was completed in the extra frame with a goal setup by Mark Zengerle to a rookie on the Silverbacks squad, Corey Chakeen.

So the question is: "does rest or adrenaline prevail?" and that question will be answered with a matinee game today at the Coliseum. Faceoff is at 3:00pm with the game audio available on 93.1 CFIS-FM and also on the Spruce Kings website. For one of the very first times in my time with the Spruce Kings, I will not be at the game as I became a victim of a cancelled flight out of Vancouver this morning. I will be watching the pay-per-view feed instead from the BCHL website.

Rosters

Salmon Arm Silverbacks

4 Mike Puddifant (D 6'00" 192 6/27/1991)
5 Jayson Reardon (D 6'01" 200 6/24/1990)
8 Jagger Dirk (D 6'00" 170 5/4/1993)
9 Christopher Hoe (F 6'00" 175 1/30/1990)
10 Greg Noyes (D 6'01" 174 5/26/1990)
11 Charlie Vasaturo (D 6'03" 202 12/7/1990)
12 Tyler Gubb (F 6'02" 210 6/11/1989)
14 Justin Krabben (D 6'04" 182 6/30/1991)
15 Devon Roeszler (F 6'00" 175 4/12/1990)
16 Josh Manson (F 6'03" 190 10/7/1991)
17 Brett Knowles (F 5'11" 180 4/25/1991)
18 Rick Soo (F 5'11" 177 3/15/1991)
19 David Killip (F 5'10" 155 3/31/1991)
20 Devin Gannon (F 6'00" 185 10/31/1991)
22 Bobby Lipsett (F 6'00" 197 3/27/1989)
28 Josh Monk (D 5'11" 190 4/5/1992)
29 Kurt Williams (G 5'10" 167 11/15/1991)
41 Tony Ierfino (G 6'01" 190 2/11/1989)
88 Mark Zengerle (F 5'11" 178 5/12/1989)
91 Travis Statchuk (F 5'10" 175 3/31/1990)
94 Corey Chakeen (F 5'11" 182 7/18/1989)
98 Matt Cassidy (F 5'10" 180 2/23/1990)


Prince George Spruce Kings

1 Alex Wright (G 6'01" 185 4/20/1990)
3 Wes McLeod (D 6'02" 185 9/30/1990)
4 Clayton McEwan (D 6'00" 180 11/26/1991)
5 Justin Fillion (D 5'11" 175 4/23/1990)
7 Jesse Scrimbit (D 6'01" 180 12/19/1990)
8 Jonathan Gibson (D 6'01" 205 2/1/1990)
9 Nick DeSousa (F 6'00" 180 11/13/1990)
10 Andrew Pickering (F 5'10" 175 6/2/1989)
11 Kyle Manlow (F 5'10" 165 6/28/1991)
12 Joe Becker (F 5'10" 180 1/29/1990)
15 Luke Hannas (F 6'02" 185 9/9/1991)
17 Brooks Robinson (F 5'11" 180 8/18/1989)
18 Colten Derickson (F 6'00" 200 11/15/1989)
19 Joe Morgan (F 5'08" 180 4/7/1989)
20 Jeff Datoff (D 5'10" 160 5/26/1992)
21 Stewart Lambert (F 6'00" 175 4/5/1990)
22 Jeremy Wiebe (F 6'00" 180 7/20/1991)
23 RJay Berra (F 6'00" 180 7/26/1990)
25 Zac Rasmussen (F 5'09" 178 5/8/1989)
35 Kyle Nielsen (G 5'10" 170 7/21/1990)


Officials

R -
L -
L -

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