It was an exciting weekend for the Salmon Arm Blackburn Excavating Midget Rec hockey team.
The Salmon Arm Hucul Challenge Midget Recreation Tournament was held at Sunwave Centre with 12 teams attending.
Salmon Arm Blackburn Excavating had four wins including the semifinal against Kamloops, a very exciting contest with the team tying the game in the last minute of regulation time. They won the game early in overtime, with both goals scored by Max Baron. The team then took on the Abbotsford Vipers in the final but came out on the losing end of a 5-1 score. The Salmon Arm goal was scored by Keegan Moerike, assisted by Reed Andronik.
Salmon Arm Lakeside Printing played four games with a win against Westside Warriors and a 1-1 tie against Penticton Vees in their final game. The lone scorer was Chris Davis.
The Kelowna Sharks placed third overall with the Kamploops Rhinos placing fourth.
Saints fall to Winfield
The Salmon Arm Fix Auto Atom Saints came back hard in the third period but couldn’t quite complete the comeback, falling to Winfield 4-3 in minor hockey action on Sunday. The Saints went down by two in the first period. Winfield scored again to take a 3-0 lead, before Dominic Barbosa got the Saints on the board at the 6:10 mark of the second.
Winfield would score what would eventually be the game winner just past the halfway mark of the game, but the third period definitely belonged to the Saints. Zander Stewart scored a pair in the third to get the Saints back within one. The boys from Salmon Arm continued to press late into the game, even pulling their goalie while on the penalty kill with under two minutes left. Connor Kociuba broke into the offensive zone with under five seconds left in the game and let a wrist shot go from the slot, but the Winfield netminder got his pad down just in time to foil the buzzer-beater.
The Saints next game is at home on Saturday, Dec. 17 against Revelstoke.
’Blades in semifinals
Both Salmon Arm Bantam Rec teams travelled to Nakusp for a tournament this past weekend.
Salmon Arm #1 North Broadview Silverblades ended up in the semi-finals against Lumby. It was a close game, back and forth until the end. Salmon Arm #1 could not find that extra goal, losing 3-2 to Lumby.
Salmon Arm #2 Bantam Chevy Bruins ended up beating Castlegar #2 to go into the final, which was 2 -2 at the end of regular time. It was then a five-minute overtime 4 on 4 and a shoot out at the end with the final score 4-3 for Salmon Arm. It was a good game, the closest one of the tournament. Salmon Arm played Lumby in the final, which was close until the final 10 minutes of the third period, 2- 0, when Salmon Arm ran out of steam. Lumby pressed until the end, with the final score 4-0 and Salmon Arm placing second. Both teams represented the city and the association well.
’Tips play league
The Salmon Arm Bantam Tier 2 Silvertips played two league games over the weekend. On Friday night they travelled to Kamloops where the Silvertips skated to a 6-2 victory. Austin Pugh led the team with two goals while Riley Jepson, Logan Mostat, Alex Astasiewicz and Nathan Plessis added singles. Salmon Arm finished the weekend on the road in Westside where they lost a close game to the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy. Riley Jepson, Logan Mostat and Tyler Collins contributed goals for the Silvertips in a 5-3 loss. League action continues next week with a home game Sunday against the Kelowna Rockets.