Although the Salmon Arm Midget Female Armstrong Co-op Silvertips defeated the eventual winner at the B.C. Female Midget Tier 1 Hockey Championships in round-robin play, it just wasn’t the local team’s year to win.
In Salmon Arm’s first game on Sunday, March 16 at the Shaw Centre, they defeated North Island 2-1. North Island would go on to win.
Overall, the Silvertips finished with a 2-3-1 record, coming in fifth.
On Thursday, their last game of the tournament, they lost 4-2 to the Terrace Ice.
Salmon Arm’s Mikayla Stirling scored the first goal for the Tips at 17:44 in the second from Cassidy Marshall. Sydney Castle also added one from Jenna Lazar and Salmon Arm’s Maddison Turner in the third.
It was an “anybody could win” kind of tournament, says head coach Troy Haskell.
“We beat North Island, Richmond beat them in the round robin – it could have gone any way. They (North Island) lost their first two games of the tournament and they ended up winning it. It could have gone to anyone.”
The North Island Impact grounded the Richmond Ravens 4-3 in the championship game Thursday night.
The game was a see-saw affair; every time North Island scored, Richmond answered.
Payton Bray from North Island opened the scoring at 2:28 into the first period from Shaylee McConnell.
Richmond answered two minutes later with Yvonne Mikulcik’s first of two on the night.
The Impact’s Olivia Knowles scored at 13:54 in the first from Erin Pickup. The Ravens responded with Mikulcik’s second of the period from Brianna Trottier.
Once again the Impact jumped ahead in the second, which was shortly matched by the Ravens’ Tamara Wong tying it 3-3.
Lisa Lloyd, from Knowles, connected for the third-period winner.
The Ravens went 6-1 in preliminary play, including their 5-3 win over North Island, who ended up 5-2.
“It was a good tourney, really entertaining for the fans here,” said Salmon Arm’s assistant coach Rob Bauml. “I am very proud of these girls.”
Haskell agrees.
“You can’t always win,” he says, noting the girls played hard. “They never gave up at any point. They were all close games.”
He said the tournament was an all-round success, and expresses his appreciation for the community’s help.
“We had a huge amount of community support and sponsorships. We had more volunteers that had nothing to do with minor hockey than who did – there were a ton out there.”
Graduating players for the Silvertips are: Ashley Tinney (Lumby), Maddie Turner and Jaime Sedore, both from Salmon Arm.
Other players include Hailey Haskell and Sarah Whitehead from Salmon Arm, Chloey Martin from Sicamous, Catlyn Marshall from Armstrong, Chelsea McCaig and Bailey Berndt from Enderby and Hannah Scherck, Cailee Bauml and Taylor Vandale from Vernon.
