The Spruce Grove Saints (9-11-1-0) hit the road for another weekend away from home as they begin a two-game BC swing in the Shuswap taking on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (15-4-3-0) at Rogers Rink on Friday night.
How To Follow:
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Breakdown:
Spruce Grove:
Overall Record: 9-11-1-0 (8th in Interior Conference – 15th in BCHL)
Home Record: 4-7-1-0
Road Record: 5-4-0-0
Power Play: 13-for-66 (19.7% – 14th in BCHL)
Penalty Kill: 56-for-72 (77.8% – 13th in BCHL)
Salmon Arm:
Overall Record: 15-4-3-0 (2nd in Interior Conference – 2nd in BCHL)
Home Record: 7-2-1-0
Road Record: 8-2-2-0
Power Play: 15-for-64 (23.4% – 13th in BCHL)
Penalty Kill: 45-for-62 (72.6% – 19th in BCHL)
Season Series:
Saturday, September 28th @ Grant Fuhr Arena (8-2 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 15th @ Grant Fuhr Arena (8-6 Silverbacks) (BOXSCORE)
Friday, November 30th @ Rogers Rink (8:00 PM)
Saturday, March 15th @ Rogers Rink (7:00 PM)
Looking Back:
The Saints look to earn their third consecutive win following a 5- 2 triumph over the Prince George Spruce Kings on Saturday night at Kopar Memorial Arena. Five different goal scorers in Josh Polak, Alexy Lachaine, Keifer Miller, James Richards and Ryan Harvey each found the back of the net in the victory while Ryan De Kok turned aside 25 of the 27 shots thrown his way in his 4th win of the season.
Salmon Arm comes into action on Friday night after falling by a 3-2 score in overtime on Sunday afternoon to the Vernon Vipers at Kal Tire Place. Maddux Martin and Cole Cooksey scored in the losing effort for the Silverbacks while Andrew Ballantyne turned aside 27 of the 30 shots he faced in his first overtime defeat of the season.
Saints Leading Scorers:
Josh Polak (10-11-21)
Ryan Johnstone (9-7-16)
Keifer Miller (6-10-16)
Austin Peters (5-11-16)
Max Seguin (5-6-11)
Silverbacks Leading Scorers:
Maddux Martin (11-9-20)
Roenick Jodoin (10-7-17)
Cole Cooksey (4-13-17)
Patrick Raftery (5-10-15)
Ben MacBeath (1-14-15)
Who To Watch For:
Spruce Grove:
- Josh Polak – Forward – Strathcona County, Alberta
Named a BCHL All-Star on Wednesday, Polak comes into Friday night’s game looking to keep his hot play going in the building that he will be playing in in January for the All-Star Game. The Saints forward has points in three of his last four games, including a big week where he posted a goal and four assists for five points in a pair of games against the Blackfalds Bulldogs and Spruce Kings while the Strathcona County, AB native sits 4th in the league in rookie scoring with his 21 points this season.
- Keifer Miller – Forward – Banff, Alberta – College of the Holy Cross
Similarly to Polak, Miller is also coming off of a five-point week in the Saints two games and will look to have the same impact for Spruce Grove in a weekend in the BC’s Interior. The Holy Cross commit has garnered goals in back-to-back games including a three-point effort on Wednesday against Blackfalds and now sits with four multi-point games on the season.
Salmon Arm:
- Maddux Martin – Forward – Salmon Arm, BC – Merrimack College
The Silverbacks captain has been strong against the Saints this season with four points in two games in Spruce Grove with the season series shifting to the Shuswap for the final two head-to-head matchups this season. The Merrimack commit has points in four of his last five games including three multi-point contests in that span while also scoring five goals during those five games as well.
- Cole Cooksey – Forward – Toronto, Ontario – Merrimack College
The other goal scorer from Sunday’s afternoon affair against the Vipers, Cooksey also has registered points in four of his last five contests heading into Friday night’s action. The Toronto, Ontario native factored into both of the Silverbacks goals on Sunday with an assist as well and carries multi-point efforts in five of his last seven games.
The Saints and Silverbacks meet for the third of four times in the regular season with this being the first matchup in Salmon Arm at Rogers Rink. Puck drop is slated for 8:00 PM MST with the game being broadcasted live on the Saints Radio Network as well as streamed live on FloHockey.
