On December 19, 2025, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks hosted the Alberta division-leading Blackfalds Bulldogs at Rogers Rink. Coming off a weekend split with the West Kelowna Warriors—including a 2-0 home shutout—the Silverbacks were looking to build on their momentum against a tough opponent. The Bulldogs entered hot after a win over the Spruce Grove Saints. In a tight, physical game, Blackfalds came out on top with a 3-2 victory, thanks to timely scoring and solid goaltending on both sides. Christensen has looked great both times the Bulldogs have played against him.
Silverbacks open up the scoring on the Power Play just 34 seconds into the game when Tanner Walos got his 5th goal of the season. The assists on the goal went to Jared Rothman and Kiefer Miller. Mertz got peppered with about 4 shots in a scramble before Walos fired it in.
Shots on goal in the first period were 9-8 for the Silverbacks
Dean Toskos tied the game at 2:15 from a great feed from NIkita Mescheryakov, Thats Toskos 5th goal of the season.
Nikita Ivashchenko gets his 14th goal of the season to make it a 2-1 game at 4:38 of the second period. The assist on the goal went to Noah Mertz. Noah Mertz spotted Ivashchenko and sent him off on a breakaway, on the breakaway Ivashchenko was hooked most of the way and managed to lift it high glove side on Christensen.
Shots on goal in the second period were 15-8 for the Bulldog
Luke Dahlen made it 3-1 on the Power Play at 8:33 of the 3rd period with the assists on the goal going to Nikita Ivashchenko and Thomas Neu. It was reviewed as it went off his skate. But its a good goal as he didn’t kick it, but the Silverbacks seem quite desperate now.
Christensen headed to the bench for the extra attacker with 3 minutes left and with 4 seconds left the Silverbacks scored. The goal went to Anthony Cardilli and the assists went to Luke Lepper and Tanner Walos.
Shots on goal in the third period were 12-3 for the Silverbacks. The Silverbacks outshot the Bulldogs 30-29.
Carson Mertz made 28 saves on the 30 shots that he faced for the win for the Bulldogs. For the Silverbacks former Bulldogs goalie Mikkel Christensen 26 saves on the 29 shots that he faced
Three Stars of the game were 1) Carson Mertz 2) Nikita Ivashchenko 3) Tanner Walos
Attendance in Salmon Arm was 1142
Bulldogs next game is Saturday December 20th in Vernon against the Vipers
Asher Lucas is no longer listed on the roster.
Spruce Grove was up 3-1 against Brooks last night and ended up losing the game 8-4. Liam Fitzpatrick had a 5 goal game for Brooks.
The Blackfalds Bulldogs have acquired the playing rights to Duncan Thompson(06)(F) from the Powell River Kings in exchange for future considerations. Duncan Thompson was also traded on October 21, 2025, when the Powell River Kings acquired him from the Coquitlam Express (along with another forward in a separate deal) in exchange for future considerations.
I want to see Latvia beat Canada again this year.
