Falling 8-2 the night before in West Kelowna, the Silverbacks made great strides in a 3-2 OT loss Saturday night in Salmon Arm.
After allowing the first goal at home, the Warriors returned the favour as Mason Richey scored just after the ten minute mark of the first period. Two year veteran Chase Dubois took the puck behind the net, and centred the puck for the fellow Cariboo Cougar alumni to jam in.
Salmon Arm would get on the board late in the period with a power play goal for the second game in a row. A nice pass by Johnathon Krahn on the right wall found Akito Hirose on the far side. With netminder Cole Demers sliding to his right, Hirose slapped the puck right to the middle of the crease for Logan Shaw who had an easy tap in.
The second period saw a number of big hits from the Silverbacks, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Both netminders would swap out with Demers stopping 18 of 19 shots and Justis Overby stopping 13 of 14 shots faced. To take their respective places were Berk Berkeliev for West Kelowna and Ethan Langenegger for Salmon Arm.
Chase Richey would score his second of the night 32 seconds into the third period restoring the Warriors lead. Seven minutes later it was the Silverbacks evening the score with Hirose picking up his second point of the night in the form of a goal. With the puck chipped into the Warriors end, all eyes were behind the net as Hirose snuck in from the point. Matthew Verboon saw his teammate charging in and put the puck into the slot. With time and space, Hirose was able to beat Berkeliev blocker side to even the game with 12:40 on the clock.
Eventually the game would head to overtime, where the two teams faced the new rules for the first time. This year, teams play five minutes of three on three hockey, and if there is no winner it goes to a shootout. The Warriors weren’t interested in a skills competition, so they ended things just five seconds in the extra frame. Chipping the puck forward off the draw, Matt Kowalski coming off a hat-trick the night before was able to evade the defence, and then knock the puck around Langenegger as the netminder dove out to avoid a breakaway. With the net empty, Kowalski would tap the puck into the empty net sending his side home with a win.
Salmon Arm will hit the ice in the Shaw Centre again on Friday night at 7pm as they take on the Vernon Vipers. The game will be available again on HockeyTV for those unable to attend.
