Salmon Arm, B.C. – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks remained at the Shaw Centre looking to take a commanding series lead over the West Kelowna Warriors.
The offense of the Silverbacks continue to score first in the series, grabbing a big first-period lead. Six minutes in, on the powerplay, the hot hand of Cole Cooksey grabs the puck along the goal line and lifts it over the shoulder of Matthew DellaRusso to score from a near-impossible angle to give the Silverbacks the 1-0 lead. With five minutes left in the opening frame, JJ Monteiro extends the lead when he send a back-hand shot from the slot past the blocker and into the net, 2-0. With time winding down, Nathan Mackie threads the needle perfectly over to Patrick Raftery backdoor for the easy tap in goal, making it 3-0.
The second period was filled with back-and-forth penalties but neither team able to take advantage. Salmon Arm had four chances on the powerplay in the second, whereas West Kelowna had the man advantage three times.
Tempers flared in the third period with the Silverbacks holding on for the win. Within the final three minutes of the game, there was a total of 13 misconducts handed to both teams, including a fight after the buzzer between Ryan DeAngelis and Kaiden Schaupmeyer.
Eli Pulver got his second career BCHL playoff shutout, stopping 27/27 to give the Silverbacks the 3-1 series lead.
(Photo credit: Chris Fowler)
