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Salmon Arm overtakes Trail in Interior Division

The Salmon Arm Silverbacks took both ends of a home-and-home series against the Trail Smoke Eaters with 4-0 and 5-2 wins on the weekend.
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The Trail Smoke Eaters' Ryan Edwards creates traffic in front of Salmon Arm goalie Adam Clark

Salmon Arm goalie Adam Clark allowed just two goals on 76 shots as he backstopped the Silverbacks to a pair of wins over the Trail Smoke Eaters on the weekend.

Clark was perfect in a 4-0 shut out Friday night then put in a 41 save performance in a 5-2 victory over the Smokies on Saturday. Despite outshooting the ‘Backs in both games, Trail had a hard time solving the hulking six-foot-five New Hampshire University commit.

With the two division losses and its third in the last three games, Trail falls a point behind Salmon Arm and Vernon in the fight for a playoff spot in the Interior division.

Evan Anderson scored the winner, when he stole the puck from a Smokie defender and slipped it by goalie Lyndon Stanwood at 17:02 of the second period for a 3-1 Silverbacks lead.

Ryan Schwalbe opened the scoring at 5:01 in the first, wristing a shot by Stanwood to put the ‘Backs up 1-0. The Smokies would tie it less than a minute later after Brent Baltus finished a nice passing play with Garrett McMullen and Scott Davidson.

However, Steve Iacobellis scored his first of two on the night, converting a pass from new captain Brandon Mistal to put the ‘Backs up for good.

Baltus notched his second of the night, at 8:35 of the third to make it 3-2 but Iacobellis and Anderson each added their second of the night to finish the scoring, to make the final 5-2.

The shots were 43-34 in favour Trail.

On Friday night, the Smokies had a rare off game at home, as they looked sluggish and had a hard time generating any meaningful offensive opportunities. Salmon Arm scored two power-play goals and a short-handed marker, and Clark stopped all 28 shots to lead the ‘Backs to their fourth win in a row.

The Smokies went 0-for-13 on the power play on the weekend, and will need a much improved effort when they hit the road for three games next weekend. The Smokies play the Powell River Kings Friday, Coquitlam Express Saturday, and Chilliwack Chiefs Sunday.

 

 

 

 



Jim Bailey

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