Twelve teams participated in the Atom Silvertips Development team’s home tournament, with the Salmon Arm team having a great weekend, emerging in second place overall.
The Silvertips played a strong first game Friday and beat Westside 11-1. Two goals each were scored by both Colby Jepson and Taylor Howard, with a hat trick from Riley Keyes and four goals from Colton Irmen.
Saturday’s first game for the ’Tips was against Trail, where the ’Tips were again victorious, 10-3. Goals were scored by Jackson Mayes, Keyes, Jaron Bootsma, Jepson and, again, four goals from Irmen. The ’Tips’ second game Saturday was versus Williams Lake, where the ’Tips suffered their first loss of the tournament. The score was 5-1, with the ’Tips’ only goal scored by Brayden Haskell.
Sunday morning brought the ’Tips back to face Williams Lake in the semifinal, where a good night’s sleep proved to be the medicine they needed, beating Williams Lake 5 -2. Goals were scored by Mayes, Joshua Olson, Jepson, and two from Keyes.
The final game Sunday brought the Salmon Arm Silvertips and Vernon Wolf Pack face-to- face. It was a nail-bitter, ending after three periods in a 3-3 tie. Unfortunately the ’Tips failed to stop the Wolf Pack from getting a final goal and winning the finals 4-3. ’Tips’ goals were scored by Irmen, Taylor Howard and Keyes.
’Tips tied
The Scotia Bank Bantam Tier 2 Silvertips took on Kelowna in league play this weekend. The Rockets scored first and were up 2-0 at the halfway point. Salmon Arm roared back with four straight markers to build a two-goal lead in the third. The Silvertips then got into penalty trouble that allowed Kelowna to score two powerplay goals in the last five minutes and tie up the game 4-4. Zach Fournier scored twice for Salmon Arm while Riley Jepson and Logan Mostat posted singles. The team will play in a Kelowna tournament next weekend.
Two wins
The Salmon Arm Honda Tier 2 Midget Silvertips had a great weekend, playing Pursuit of Excellence’s Tier 2 team on Saturday in Kelowna and then again on Sunday at home.
On Saturday, after a slow start, the Silvertips were down 2 to 1 at the halfway mark with the only highlight Keith Minnis’ howitzer goal from the blue-line. Finally, the ’Tips woke up with four unanswered goals by Nick Astasiewicz, Alex Fournier, Zane Perry and Minnis. Darien Head and Perry were credited with assists. Blake Puetz stopped several breakaways to keep the lead.
Sunday’s game in Salmon Arm was a better effort, but penalties thwarted the team’s dominance over the POE squad. The final score was 7-4 with Cam Olson and Fournier scoring twice. Other goals were scored by Head, Levin Chamberlain and Colby Erickson. Assists went to Minnis, Astasiewicz, Don Robinson and Olson. Of note were some big hits by Darien Blight and Jason Klassen and some great penalty killing by Brodie Buhler, Brayden Hislop and Eric Austin. Zack Dueck played a fiery game in net, reminiscent of Billy Smith.