After a less than successful regular season that saw the team finish 0-15, the USNR Silvertips Bantam Tier 3 Rep team defeated the Westside Warriors to move on to the second round of playoff action.
The ’Tips entered Royal Lepage Place Sunday afternoon with the best-of-three series tied at one game apiece.
The game was a nail-biter all the way with the teams exchanging goals back and forth for the first half.
Jacob Oberst, Trajan Boyd and Evan Hughes had each scored to give the Tips the 3-2 lead but the Warriors would tie it up again on the final play before the break.
The ’Tips answered back on the first shift out when Oberst made the pass of the year to Hughes, who made no mistake, going five hole to score what would prove to be the winning goal.
Dallas Stewart added an insurance marker shortly thereafter and the team managed to hold off their opponents for the remainder of the game.
The entire team deserves kudos for a hard-fought and well- played series.
Sharks take bite out of rivals
The Salmon Arm Askew’s Foods Pee Wee Tiger Sharks played in their home Pee Wee recreation tournament Jan.18 to 20.
The team faced some stiff competition over the weekend but played their best hockey of the season during the first three games on Friday and Saturday.
The Sharks carried their hard work and unselfish play into their fourth and final game of the tournament on Sunday, winning 7-0.
A strong defensive effort by Jackson Mount, Isaac Webster, Matthew Campbell, and Ava Wutke combined with some stellar saves by rookie goalie Dawson Perry, resulted in the first shutout of his career.
The shutout was also a result of great back-checking from forwards Gage Buchanan, Hanna Mitchell, Nathan Chorlton, Kayne Beaudry, Tye Mitchell, Kira Makela, Cole Stockbruegger and Tayler Starkell.
There were many great passing plays, evidenced by six different goal scorers and many assists. One of the goals even had all five Shark skaters on the ice touch the puck consecutively before it went between the pipes, a rare happening in hockey.
Atoms top Kelowna
The L. Turner Contracting Salmon Arm SilverBacks Atom A Development team faced Kelowna at the pond on Saturday, skating away with a 5-2 win on home ice.
Marino Bordin and Colby Feist combined for the ’Backs opening goal in the first period.
Bordin finished with a sweet spin-o-rama backhand through the visiting netminder’s legs, after he and Feist cruised into the zone on a two-on-one.
With a delayed penalty on the way and the goalie skating to the bench, Feist put the ’Backs up by two after busting through the defence and getting in the clear.
Feist’s second came in the second, as the Kelowna defence had no counter for his speed.
After pulling away from the nearest defender and going in 1-on-0, he slid the puck in on the backhand after sucking in the goalie with a forehand fake.
Kelowna was able to sneak two past SilverBacks netminder Gabriel Muriels-Allaway, but that would be as close as they could get.
Connor Kociuba’s point shot was blocked but the rebound fell right on Feist’s stick, and he sniped the top corner for the hat-trick.
The ’Backs sealed the deal with an empty-netter with under a minute left to play in the game.
The SilverBacks hit the road for a tournament this weekend.
