The Salmon Arm Atom ‘A’ Silverbacks hosted a 10-team tournament this past weekend which featured both Tier 1 and Tier 2 level teams from the Fraser Valley, the Lower Mainland, the Thompson-Okanagan and the Interior.
During the round robin, the Atom ‘A’ Silverbacks started the tournament with an unlikely 2-2 tie against Kelowna, before bouncing back to take a hard fought 3-1 victory over a strong team from Mission.
Beckett Johnson opened the scoring, but the game was in doubt until the final period when Aiden Lindblad scored consecutive goals to secure the win.
The game was only kept close early on thanks to the strong goaltending of Rod May.
In the final round-robin game, the boys faced a stiff challenge from a Tier 1 team from West Kelowna. The first period started off with a quick two-goal lead for the visiting Warriors, but even that setback did little to shake the resolve of the Silverbacks.
Matt Bushell and Drayk Eklund scored goals to close the gap, leaving only the third period to try to comeback from a 3-2 deficit.
The third period was a back-and-forth affair until Brayden Hessler decided to play hero and score back-to-back highlight reel goals.
The final seconds of the game were played at a feverish pitch, and it wasn’t until Gabriel Murrells-Alloway made a brilliant blocker save in the dying moments that the team could claim victory.
The win placed the Silverbacks in the semifinal where they faced another Tier 1 powerhouse – this time from Kamloops.
The game started off where the last game had finished – with another goal by Brayden Hessler. However, the Kamloops Ice Hawks proved too strong on that day as they raced to a 5-1 lead going into the third. Jack Doray scored a couple of goals in the third to make it close, but the final result was a Kamloops 6-3 victory over the host team.
Overall, the Atom ‘A’ Silverbacks had a great tourney. Appreciated are team coaches Brad May, Daryn Stewart, Jeff Johnson and Trevor Feist as well as Tanya Bushell and the tournament committee and sponsors.
Road lessons
The Salmon Arm Bantam tier 2 Silvertips kept busy this weekend, travelling to Trail for a tournament. The boys left Friday at 7 a.m. on the bus so they would be ready for their first opponent the Nelson Maple Leafs.
The team dominated most of the game except for a few sluggish minutes in the first period. The final score in this tournament opener was 5-1 for the Scotiabank Silvertips. Contributing to the score were Harley Bootsma for two goals, and Austin Anthony- Jules Dylan McBeth and Jason Herd for one each. The assists came from Matthew Dolinar (2) and Cam Watson, Noah Paterson and Tyler Chartier.
The boys woke Saturday ready for two challenging matches. First they would meet Penticton in an early game but the Tips got caught off balance from the start.
They never seemed to recover as they lost the contest by a 6-1 tally. The lone goal was a good one by Trajan Boyd on a power play assisted by Dolinar and Paterson.
The second game came mid-afternoon against the Spokane Junior Chiefs. Salmon Arm outshot the Chiefs badly but a hot goaltender and some costly mistakes left the Tips with an early 3-0 deficit.
Salmon Arm did not quit, and managed to get back in this game. Late in the third period, however, Spokane managed to get a game winner and sent the hometown boys to the consolation round with a 5-4 loss. Goals came from Herd, McBeth, Bootsma and Matthew Dolinar. The set ups came from McBeth, Trent Thompson Anthony-Jules and Ben Wardmen.
Sunday’s game lacked some energy as the Silvertips were a little discouraged from their loss to Spokane.
The consolation game put Salmon Arm against the host team, Trail. The final score was a 7-2 loss with the only goals coming from McBeth and Thompson assisted by Herd and Anthony-Jules. Salmon Arm had a great experience as they learned about hockey on the road.
Fun weekend
The A&W Peewee Tier 3 Silvertips attended a tournament in Penticton last weekend, finishing sixth in a field of 14.
Friday night saw the Tips in a tilt versus Castlegar. The opposition opened the scoring just a minute and a half into the game, but Ty Bailey jammed the puck past the Castlegar goalie just one minute later. Matt Campbell and Dominic Barbosa then set each other up a couple to each record their first of the game.
Castlegar clawed back within one, but that was as close as they’d come. Ethan Lans, and Barbosa with hat tricks, as well as Caden Sherman’s first of the tournament sealed the win for the Silvertips.
Saturday morning’s game against Aldergrove was a different story. Although Salmon Arm scored a pair to take a first period two-goal lead, the Bulldogs would tie it up late in the first and continue on to a 7-2 victory. Lans and Barbosa each scored for Salmon Arm.
The evening game against Arbutus was a nail-biter, with the Tips pulling out a 7-5 win.
Arbutus jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Captain Barbosa lit the lamp for the Tips heading into the first intermission.
Taylor Howard snapped a wrister past the Arbutus netminder a few minutes into the second, but the opposition took the lead back two minutes later.
A hard-working Henry Lenarduzzi tied it up for Salmon Arm halfway through the period and Bailey made the mesh ripple as the period began winding down.
Arbutus ripped the puck past netminder Cole Salewski just one minute later, but Lans on the breakaway with just 20 seconds left in the frame helped swing momentum back in the Tips’ favour.
Again the opposition tied it up early in the third, but Lenarduzzi’s second on a sweet feed no-look from Connor Kociuba, and Kociuba’s own marker just two minutes later would seal the win.
Unfortunately Sunday’s final for fifth place versus the Westside Warriors ended in a 7-1 loss for the Tips, with Lans picking up the lone marker for Salmon Arm.
Madison Dewitt and Deion Anthony-Jules were twin towers of strength all weekend on D for the Tips, and Dewitt had this to say about their play: “I think we played well because we’ve been working on positioning. Practising the Triangle really helped us.”
Wins continue
It was another great showing by the Armstrong Co-op Salmon Arm Midget Female Tier 1 hockey team in Kelowna. The Salmon Arm girls won over Kelowna 6-2. It was a very close game until the third period when the Salmon Arm girls showed their true grit and scored four goals to clinch the win. Goals were scored by Hannah Scherck (Vernon), Jenna Lazar (Vernon), Cassidy Marshall (Armstrong), Sarah Whitehead (Salmon Arm) and a pair by Maddison Turner (Salmon Arm). There was a solid defensive effort by Chelsea McCaig (Enderby), Catlyn Marshall (Armstrong) and good goal tending by Bailey Berndt (Enderby).