The Salmon Arm Novice Silver Penguins, sponsored by Dr. Chris Main, took their show on the road to Merritt this past weekend for a tournament.
The Penguins started off strong against West Vancouver winning handily 15-3.
Their second game against a stronger opponent Summerland Jets, turned out to be a great game for the boys, who fell behind 1-0 early, but stormed back with three goals in the second period and finished with a 6-3 win.
The host city was the opponent for Penguins last game in the round robin. In their third game of the day, the legs they had left did them proud as they shot down the hosts 11-1.
But the strongest competition was yet to come in the final. West Kelowna, just like the Penguins had won all three of their round robin games in similar fashion, so the match up for the gold medal was great for both teams.
The play went back and forth for most of the first period but West Kelowna took a penalty with seconds remaining in the first period giving the Penguins the power play to start the second. Ten seconds in, Aiden Lindblad scored his 10th goal of the tournament to give the Penguins the lead. He scored again eight minutes later, but the two-goal lead was short lived as West Kelowna got one past Salmon Arm goalie Connor “Target” Levins. Minutes later, Drayk Ekland made a fantastic play on the defensemen turning him inside out and buried his shot low blocker side to put them up 3-1 with 16 minutes to go. West Kelowna scored on a breakaway with four minutes left to make the last few minutes a barn burner.
West Kelowna poured it on in the final few minutes, pinning Salmon Arm in their zone for last minute of the game. Jaden Bitz blocked a shot and scrambled the puck to the corner with seven seconds left on the clock to preserve the win, and first place in the tournament.
