In a high tempo, high tempered game between two sides that don’t like each other, it was the Silverbacks who came out on top over the Smoke Eaters.
In the first the Smoke Eaters got the start they wanted scoring first. The Silverbacks almost had the opener inside the first 2 minutes but Matteo Paler-Chow robbed Akito Hirose on a back door tap in to keep the game scoreless. Powell Connor opened the scoring at 7:33 as he walked right in and roofed one on Ethan Langenegger. The Smoke Eaters doubled their lead at 15:08 as Kent Johnson found Philippe Lapointe at the back post to make it 2-0. On the goal however Tyler Ghirardosi was injured and would miss the rest of the game. Daniel Rybarik would score the teddy bear toss goal at 15:52 to get the Backs on the board.
In the second the Smoke Eaters were paraded to the penalty box as the Backs scored 1 on the man advantage and another on a delayed penalty to take a 3-2 lead. The Smoke Eaters would score as Owen Ozar buried one short side with 19s left in the second.
In the third with the Smoke Eaters short benched, the Silverbacks scored two quick ones, the first of which had a hint of goaltender interference but was allowed to stand. They would score a minute later making it 5-3 as Logan Shaw put a back-hander past Paler-Chow for the eventual game winner. The Smoke Eaters made it a one goal game with Kent Johnson scoring on a 5-on-3 with 7:31 left in the third. However thats the last goal the Smoke Eaters would get past Langenegger as Rybarik would add one late, while the Backs added an empty netter.
The Smoke Eaters have two games left before the holiday break as they’ll head to Vernon on Wednesday before finishing the year at home against the Cowichan Valley Capitals on home ice on Friday.
