The Salmon Arm Silverbacks slammed the door on the West Kelowna Warriors and will be facing off against the Penticton Vees in the Interior Conference Finals.
After tallying a 3-0 shutout at Shaw Centre on April 24, the Salmon Arm squad’s momentum continued at Royal LePage Place on April 26, where in Game 6 they brought an end to Round 2 of their playoff series versus the Warriors.
Halfway in to the first frame, Tanner Walos delivered disappointment for home-team fans, putting the Silverbacks on the board with a goal assisted by Cacy Laylin. A minute later, the Warriors’ Felix Caron was able to capitalize on penalty trouble for Nathan Mackie and get the puck past Eli Pulver. At 16:02, Walos added his second goal of the night, assisted by Lian Gayfer and Laylin.
The second period belonged to Salmon Arm. At 7:20, Patrick Raftery potted a penalty conversion, aided by JJ Monteiro and Jonah Aegerter. About a minute later, Laylin scored his first goal of the night, assisted by Maddux Martin and Cole Longacre. Laylin delivered his second goal at 16:41, this time assisted by Ryan Philbrick and Cole Cooksey.
About two minutes into the third frame, Monteiro found the back of the net with help from Aegerter and Reid Verkonyi, giving the Silverbacks a 5-1 lead. Penalties began to pick up around the halfway mark when the Warriors’ Felix Caron and Jackson Kyrkostas found themselves going to the sin bin for an illegal check to the head-minor (Caron, served by Aidan Malone), as well as calls for game misconducts and roughing. With a minute remaining in the period, the Warriors’ Isaiah Norlin delivered a penalty conversion, which would be the team’s final goal of the night and its 2023-24 season.
Pulver once again demonstrated his mettle between the pipes, stopping 35 shots throughout the night.
Round 3 in the playoffs, Conference finals, gets underway on May 2, with Games 1 and 2 at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Games 3 and 4 will be at Shaw Centre on May 6 and 8.
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