A hot second half in Surrey ended the Silverbacks roadtrip on a high note.
Tyson Gayfer scored a pair of goals and Cole Nisse scored his first in the BCHL which wound up being the game winner in overtime.
Surrey got on the board in the first period with Matthew McKim coming out from the corner and picking the top right corner for the 1-0 lead. In the first period alone, seven power plays were handed out.
With just one win at home all season, the Eagles continued to push and in the second were rewarded with a breakaway goal. Caige Sterzer stole the puck at his own blue line, and broke down the ice beating Ethan Langenegger with a nice move to his backhand.
Shut out for four periods in the row, Gayfer would stop the streak from becoming five for Salmon Arm with just over four minutes left in the frame. Aiden Jenner went behind the goal, and fed to puck into the left faceoff circle for Tyson Gayfer who snapped a shot inside the right post to get the Silverbacks on the board. Callup Jarrod Semchuk had the secondary assist for his first BCHL point. His forecheck was able to get the puck over to Jenner. Gayfer, the former Thompson Blazer wasn’t done there though. A faceoff win from Jenner in the left circle went to Gayfer, and a quick shot trickled through Hayden Missler just crossing the goal line with 40 seconds to go in the period.
A late power play in the second allowed Salmon Arm to start the third with a chance to go ahead for the first time in the game. They were unsuccessful, but managed to generate some momentum, and eventually went ahead. With the puck in the offensive zone already, Sol Seibel raced in from the line change. The Silverbacks Captain slapped the puck from the top of the cirlces and Noah Wakeford parked in front got the tip for his third goal of the weekend.
With less than seven minutes to go, a nice individual effort from Holden Katzaley tied the came for Surrey. Coming off the left wing, he cut in and went top corner to send the game to OT. Salmon Arm would draw a late power play, and couldn’t score in regulation, but it did transfer over to overtime.
Just fourteen seconds in, and it was Salmon Arm product Cole Nisse scoring his first BCHL goal. Nick Unruh powered down the left side, and centred the puck to Nisse who had jumped into the play and was able to knock the puck in.
The win for Salmon Arm gave them four out of a possible six points on a long travelling weekend that saw them play in Powell River on Friday and Victoria on Saturday. Two more points brings Salmon Arm within four points of West Kelowna for fourth in the Interior Division, and the Silverbacks hold two games in hand. They have a four point cushion on Vernon who have played the same amount of games and Trail in seventh lost Sunday to sit five points back and have played three more games than Salmon Arm.
Key Performers:
On a career high six game scoring drought, Tyson Gayfer provided Salmon Arm the secondary scoring they needed oh so much. No forwards outside the top six scorers had found mesh this weekend, so it was especially big to get the Salmon Arm side rolling. He’s been getting more and more minutes, and with Akito Hirose out of the lineup, Cole Nisse is getting extra time on the power play. He started the season mostly playing just five on five, but recently started getting minutes on the penalty kill and power play. While the Silverbacks are young up front, the back end has a number of older players which makes it even more impressive to see Nisse earning himself more opportunities.
