With the hockey season well underway, Salmon Arm’s Midget House 2 has shown some admirable qualities in the past three weeks; leadership by its older players, a unified team spirit, and a commitment by the team’s coaches from locker room to the ice.
As a result, many of their games in the Okanagan North Midget Super League so far have demonstrated clean, fast-moving play and consistent goal tending.
Coach Bob Eckland has high hopes for the season. Having coached many of the players through a tough season in 2015/16 where games found them short on numbers, the team roster now stands at sixteen, providing much needed stamina.
This, along with the tenacity and experience gained over the last year, is beginning to pay off.
As of Nov. 6, Salmon Arm Midget House 2 currently stands in third place in the league after seven games that resulted in four wins, two losses and one tie.
Salmon Arm defeated Winfield 3-1, tied with Vernon 2 at 3-3, and shut down Vernon 4 quickly from the start with a score of 7-2.
A recent notable game was the nail-biter against North Okanagan on October 30, where the quality of play remained clean and exciting.
With eleven seconds to go, North Okanagan managed to come out ahead by one goal, for a 3-2 finish. The Nov. 6 game against Vernon 3 again saw great teamwork and fast play on the part of both teams.
Dominic Barbosa kept the crowd cheering with three goals and Nick Dueck chased down a goal in the last 30 seconds resulting in a score of 4-3 for Salmon Arm.
