Salmon Arm, B.C. – The Salmon Arm Silverbacks returned home for their first game at the Shaw Centre in 2024, taking on the Cowichan Valley Capitals.
The Silverbacks set the offensive tone early in the first period. 54 seconds in, Cole Cooksey connected with Maddux Martin in the slot who wired one home to give the Silverbacks the early 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Ty Paisley finds himself alone in the perfect position to bat a rebound out of mid-air to extend the lead to 2-0. The offense stays hot as three minutes after that, Lian Gayfer snipes one for his first career BCHL goal. Capitals starting goalie, Ethan Morrow, was chased from the net, allowing 3 goals on 5 shots. Coming out of the BCHL media timeout, Casy Laylin sends an absolute laser, perfectly placed shot into the top corner to make it a 4-0 game. 30 seconds later, Laylin strikes for the second time in the game, getting a centering pass from Ty Paisley to push the lead further, 5-0. With just over two minutes to go in the opening frame, the Capitals answered back with Dryden Kuramoto fluttering one from the point that gets through traffic. Answering right back, regaining the five goal lead, Nathan Mackie deflects one in front to send it to the second period, 6-1.
The scoring slowed down a bit for the Silverbacks but didn’t stop. Six minutes into the second period, Tristan Allen jumps up from the point, driving the net and finishes off the opportunity into the top corner. Five minutes later, hats came onto the ice when Casy Laylin completed his first career BCHL hat-trick while finishing off a loose puck in the crease. The Silverbacks also killed off two successful penalty kills in the second period.
Heading into the third, the Silverbacks were still on attack mode. Within the first two minutes, it was Marcus Broberg’s turn to pinch down from the blueline with the puck and pick the top corner to make it 9-1. At the 8:44 mark, the Capitals found themselves with two men in the penalty box and stuck in their own zone. On the powerplay, Ty Paisley scores his second of the game on a one-timer, giving the Silverbacks an even ten goals. The Silverbacks found themselves back on the powerplay with five minutes to go when Winston Frimmel, playing in his first game at the Shaw Centre, launched one from the point that finds twine for his first career BCHL goal. In the final couple of minutes, with the Capitals on the powerplay this time, Eddie Romano floats one from the point that cashes in, to finish off this game 11-2.
The Silverbacks got big offenseive contributions, with Casy Laylin finishing with 5 points (3G,2A), Tristan Allen with 4 points (1G,3A), and Ryan Gillespie dishing the puck grabbing 4 assists. Ryan Grout got the win stopping 25/27.
