Four players scored goals Friday night for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, and they rode a two goal performance from Hudson Schandor to their second straight win over the West Kelowna Warriors.
Schandor opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game taking a cross ice feed from Noah Wakeford and deflecting the pass over Connor Hopkins. The Warriors netminder had already made two unbelievable stops to keep the game scoreless, but was unable to stop Schandor. The Warriors answered quickly as the Silverbacks turned the puck over in front of the their goal, and spinning around Lucas Cullen was able to slide a shot between the legs of Ethan Langenegger.
In the second it was a pair of rookies scoring their first goals of the season for Salmon Arm. Stepping onto the ice from a line change, John Little was able to find all the room in the world above the circles, and fired his first goal of the season to make it 2-1. Two minutes later Aiden Jenner would score as Tyson Gayfer won a battle in the slot, and won the puck over to his linemate who was able to beat Hopkins. Shots were all Salmon Arm after two with the home side leading 30-10 after 40 minutes.
A scary moment happened in the third as Justin Wilson got knocked down, and slid into the backwall head first. Trainers from both teams wound up coming onto the ice to look after the fallen forward. He skated off with the help from a teammate and Brett Knowles, and was able to walk to the dressing room under his own power.
West Kelowna came on strong after the lull, and Bennett Norlin with a power move was able to come down the left wing, drive towards and goal and scooped the puck past Langengger to make it a 3-2 hockey game. Salmon Arm took less than a minute to respond with Nick Unruh holding the puck at the blue line, and finding Schandor in the middle where the forward scored his second goal of the night.
Down two goals, the Warriors would pull their goalie with 3:30 in the third, and the early yank cost them as a turnover at centre ice led Matthew Verboon to walking down and shooting into the empty net to seal the game at 5-2.
Key Performers:
Hudson Schandor – After scoring in the first two games of the season, Schandor was riding a six game goal drought until tonight. He’s been a big playmaker this season, but the sophmore forward showed he can put the puck in the net with his two goal performance.
Aiden Jenner – He got the monkey off his back tonight, and the big Castlegar boy was making things happen all night. His chip and chase approach was on point, and his continued chemistry with Gayfer showed on Jenner’s goal.
