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In photos: Salmon Arm Silverbacks Pro Am game nets large crowd

Players from the NHL, AHL and college teams take to the ice
Cameron Thomson

The Salmon Arm Pro Am game gathered Silverbacks alumni under one roof for an exciting evening of hockey.

The game saw current Silverbacks players, team alumni and players from the NHL and AHL all facing off at the Shaw Centre on Saturday, July 27. The two teams were comprised of 31 players wearing purple and silver jerseys, each with the Silverbacks logo printed on them.

The game ended with the purple team making an incredible comeback which spanned the second and third periods.

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Among those sporting the purple jersey were Ryan Gropp, who plays for the New York Rangers in the NHL, and Cole Sanford, who plays for the University of Alberta. Team silver had Kevin Davis, who plays for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL, and Curtis Lazar from the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL.

Brooks Christensen, the Silverbacks operations manager, said the annual event is a crowd favourite.

“Every year it seems like a good turnout, seems like more and more people are coming to the door. We usually average 300 to 400 that come to the games,” Christensen said.

The game took no time to get going. Within two minutes, Lucas Nickles for team silver scored the first goal with an assist from Tristan Crozier. Shortly after, team silver slotted two more goals, courtesy of Carter Cochran and Connor Brown-Maloski.

Team silver charged ahead and, by the second frame, were leading in front of the purple team 7-3. The lead didn’t last long though. After a barrage of goals from Sanford and Logan Shaw, the purple puck handlers were leading on the board with a score of 7-6.

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The purple wave added two more goals to their tally before team silver’s Tanner Campbell snuck the puck in with the help of Lucas Nickles near the end of the third period. Team silver went on to score a few more goals, but were unable to catch up.

@CameronJHT
Cameron.thomson@saobserver.net
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