Salmon Arm had 10 power plays in the game, and was able to score twice but it wasn’t enough as the Cowichan Capitals came to the Shaw Centre and won 6-3.
On their Teddy Bear toss night, the Silverbacks allowed the first two goals of the game in the third period. A point shot from Dimitri Mikrogiannakis was tipped in front of the goal from Paul Selleck for the 1-0 lead. Just before the halfway mark of the period, Keegan Craik scored his first BCHL goal shovelling the puck in from the right of the net on a delayed penalty.
On a late power play the Silverbacks would eventually make the teddy bears fly. Noah Wakeford setup Hudson Schandor, and the Salmon Arm forward ripped the puck in to get Salmon Arm within one.
A power play goal for Cowichan Valley in the middle frame was the only goal fans would see as Brady Lynn was setup in the slot and went top left corner to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Salmon Arm received two five-on-three power plays in the period, and were unable to score on the first one. The second time around the man advantage transferred over to the third where the home side would strike quickly.
15 seconds in a pass play started on the stick of Justin Wilson, went into the high slot for Hudson Schandor, and he fed it down low for Noah Wakeford. He had 3 goals in the first 26 games this season, and Wakeford hacked in his fourth goal in just the last five games to get Salmon Arm within one. A Capitals turnover a minute later wound up on the stick of Justin Wilson and he beat Caps netminder Jack Grant to tie the game at three. The goal made Wilson the fifth player on the Silverbacks roster to hit double digits in goals joining Schandor who scored his tenth earlier in the night.
Salmon Arm had a chance to go ahead in the game for the first time with their third five-on-three power play of the game, but the Capitals penalty kill was able to keep the puck out.
A goal with 2:35 left in the game gave Cowichan the go ahead goal. 27 seconds later with the Silverbacks defence pinching to the keep the puck in, the Capitals pushed it out for a breakaway with Brady Lynn scoring on a breakaway for his second of the game. He would score into an empty net to complete the hat-trick and give Cowichan a 6-3 win.
Sunday afternoon Salmon Arm will host the Vernon Vipers for the third and final time this regular season. Vernon lost Friday night 3-1 to the Capitals, and had Saturday night off.
KEY PERFORMER:
Akito Hirose, Sol Seibel, and Olson Werenka were all out for Salmon Arm Saturday night which meant the team was down their three 19 year old defenceman. Andy Stevens and Sam MacBean saw a huge amount of minutes put on them, and the two 20 year olds performed very well playing in all situations.
