This weekend Salmon Arm was host to the Salmon Arm Minor Hockey Pee Wee tournament, with all three local house teams participating, each in their own division of four teams.
The Salmon Arm Ambush started the tournament Friday by beating the Westside Kodiaks 4-2 in a thrilling end-to-end matchup. They followed that by beating Chilliwack on Saturday 6-0 and finished off the round robin by beating Kamloops 10-2, ending up first overall in round-robin play. They then met the Kodiaks Sunday, beating them 2-0 and sending them to the finals against the second-place finishers, Semiahmoo. The final was a thrilling game, but Salmon Arm fell behind 2-0 fairly early and then battled back. Salmon Arm could only muster one goal and lost 3-1 after Semiahmoo scored into the empty net. The Ambush allowed only seven goals in five games. The team includes Coleman Mueller, Reid Seeley, Dillan Olson, Tristan Curdyk, Bobby Stevenson, Jacob Harding, Jayke Cowie, Sam Curdyk, Jack Calkins, Zach Langtry, Tyson Chamberlain, and injured player Dylan McBeth who cheered from the bleachers. Coaching staff are Mike Seeley, Grant Cowie and Tony Mueller.
Silverblades
After the dust settled, the Salmon Arm Blackburn Silverblades wound up in fifth place overall.
In Game 1, the Silverblades defeated the Westside Rebels 4-2.
Goal scorers were Donte Nowell with a hat trick assisted by Mikayla Stirling, Brandon Javling and Ella Ross.
Curtis Bannister blazed one in to make it 4-2. Alex Sherwood was hot in goal.
Game 2 versus the Penticton Snipers ended in a three-all tie. Scoring were Nowell from Cameron McGregor, Jacob Oberst assisted by Steven Luchkanych and Josh Neiwnhuizen with an assist from Jalving.
In Game 3, the Semiahmoo Ravens, who went on to win the tournament, edged past Salmon Arm 4-3. Silverblades scorers were Oberst with the assist from Kyle Clark, Justin Dodge unassisted and Jalving unassisted.
Game 4 saw the Silverblades defeat the Kamloops Gamblers 5-3 in their best game of the tournament. Bannister notched one with help from Luchkanych. Jalving got one unassisted, while Oberst, with help from Jalving, scored the third.
Stirling found the net unassisted and Clark scored the final goal with help from Oberst. Goalie Sherwood had his best game of the tourney.
Hotshots
For the Salmon Arm Hotshots, Game 1 in round-robin play saw the team defeated 7-4 by the Westside Bruins.
Game 2 was a hard-fought battle versus the Kamloops Gamblers, ending in a 5-5 tie.
In Game 3, South Okanagan narrowly defeated the Hotshots 2-0.
In Game 4, the Chilliwack Young Guns edged the Hotshots by a tight score of 6-5.
The Salmon Arm Hotshots placed seventh overall.
