The Salmon Arm Elite Hockey School Female Bantam A Silverbacks played a pair of games against some tough competition this past weekend.
Saturday they travelled to Chase to compete against the Kamloops Bantam Female Blazers. Salmon Arm struggled from the drop of the puck in this one, quickly surrendering two goals to go down by two heading into the first intermission. The teams traded chances in the second before Jada Brown knocked in a rebound to get the Silverbacks within one around the halfway mark. Kamloops scored just six seconds later to regain their two-goal lead, and then again five minutes later to go up by three. As time wound down in the second, Kasey Huber picked a corner to get Salmon Arm within two, but that’s as close as they would come – Kamloops scored four unanswered in the third to seal the victory.
Related: Bantam female Silverbacks win final game of 2018
The Silverbacks travelled to Kelowna on Sunday for a tough test against the division leading Kelowna Rockets. Huber would open the scoring for the ’Backs just two- and-a-half minutes into the game on a breakaway, but Salmon Arm couldn’t keep Kelowna’s high-powered offence off the board and surrendered the tying goal halfway through the first. Kelowna scored three more times in the remainder of the first and second, to stake them a three-goal lead heading into the second intermission.
Early in the third, Natasha Kociuba would pick up the puck in her own zone and skate the length of the ice before beating the Kelowna netminder under the blocker to get Salmon Arm within two, but Kelowna would score again late to seal a 5-3 victory.
The bantam female Silverbacks travel to Williams Lake this weekend for a pair of league games against the Timberwolves.
Submitted by Peter Kociuba