It was an exciting start to the North Okanagan Super Hockey League season for the Fix Auto Atom Salmon Arm Saints on Saturday, as they faced off against the Vernon Red Lazers at the Vernon Civic Arena.
The Red Lazers scored once in the first period and twice in the second to jump out to a 3-0 lead, until the Saints scored their first goal at the 10:12 mark of the second.
The Saints followed up with a pair including the tying goal with five seconds left in the period. The Red Lazers answered back in the third with a pair of their own to take a 5-3 lead, but the Saints offence proved too strong and couldn’t be held back. Goals at 6:20, 3:57 and 3:00 of the third period sealed a 6-5 victory. Evan Smith stopped 33 of 38 shots for the win.
The Saints team consists of goaltender Evan Smith, and skaters Ty Bailey, Dominic Barbosa, Matthew Campbell, Brayden Costa, Connor Kociuba, Rhys Middleton, Dawson Perry, Trent Poroznuk, Caden Sherman, Zander Stewart and Austin Torbohm. Head coach is Mike Bailey, with assistants Pat Sherman and Darren Stewart. Manager is Ellie Campbell.
’Tips tournament
The Scotia Bank Salmon Arm Bantam Silvertips Tier 2 hockey team participated in their first tournament of the year this weekend in Kelowna. On Friday, they were matched up against Abbottsford in the the tournament opener. Salmon Arm battled hard but came up just short, losing 5-4. On Saturday, the Silvertips sqaured off against Calgary. After being down 6-3 after two periods, they stormed back for a 6-6 tie. Their third game was against a tough Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy team. POE downed the ’Tips 9-2 to eliminate them from a chance to play in the final. Salmon Arm then finished the tourney with a solid 3-0 victory against Spokane, Wash. They will now use a break in their league schedule to travel to Wiliams Lake for a tournament at the end of the month.
Tied in Kelowna
The injury-riddled Salmon Arm Honda Midget Silvertips were in action again this past weekend. Saturday saw the boys playing in Kelowna against the Midget Rockets. Eric Austin opened up the scoring, unassisted in the first period on the power play. Kelowna evened up the score in the second. The ’Tips got into penalty trouble, spending the majority of the second period short-handed. Brodie Buhler, scored unassisted, when the ’Tips were killing a 5 on 3 in the second. The Rockets did tie it up later in the power play.
The Rockets went up 4-2 in the third before Connor McCuiag, assisted by Colby Erickson, added one more for the ’Tips. Final score: Kelowna 4, ’Tips 3.
Salmon Arm was in action against Westside on Sunday. After a scoreless first period, Westside went up by two goals before Zane Perry, assisted by Brodie Buhler, drew the ’Tips within a goal. Cam Olson netted the tying goal for Salmon Arm a few minutes later, assisted by Dylan Larson and Buhler. The game ended in a 2 - 2 tie. Blake Puetz was solid in net for both games.
The ‘Tips are in action again this weekend in Sicamous, facing Rossland/Trail at 4:15 on Saturday and Penticton at 2:15 on Sunday.
First tourney
The A&W Tier 3 Peewee Silvertips spent a busy weeked in Vernon. It was the first tournament for these up-and-comers and they all said they enjoyed the experience. There were some honorable mentions for the four-game contest including Nicolas Fournier, Dylan McBeth, Brandon Jalving and Ryan Freed, a goaltender who stopped an amazing number of opportunities. The most important part of the whole weekend for this team was that they never let the game get them down. This is a great group of stong-hearted kids and everyone is looking forward to a strong developmental season.
Home ice win
The L. Turner Contracting Salmon Arm Silvertips Atom development team played two games on the weekend, starting off the season well.
On Oct. 15 the Silvertips had home ice advantage against Kelowna #4 on Hucul Pond at the Sunwave Centre. The Kelowna team beat Salmon Arm 7-5 with the Salmon Arm goals scored by Josh Olson, Jackson Mayes, Taylor Howard and two goals from Brayden Haskell.
On Oct. 16 the team travelled to Vernon to take on Vernon #2. This game Salmon Arm tied 6-6, with the Salmon Arm goals scored by Colby Jepson, Jackson Mayes, Owen Langtry, Brayden Haskell, Colby Feist and two goals scored by Riley Keyes. The second of Keyes’ goals tied the game with only two minutes remaining in the game. The entire team played well and worked hard as a team, with amazing goaltending in both games by Koltin Dodge.