Salmon Arm’s bantam tier two Silverbacks minor hockey squad earned themselves a little bit of gold after a victory in the North Vancouver Minor Hockey Thanksgiving Tournament.
The holiday weekend saw the Leko Precast tier two Silverbacks take a trip down to the Coast for the tournament, Oct. 6-8.
The boys played round-robin games against the host North Vancouver Storm along with teams from Nanaimo and West Vancouver over the course of tournament play.
After going undefeated in the round robin – with lopsided victories in each game along the way – the team finished first, sending them into a semifinal rematch against the Nanaimo Clippers.
The Nanaimo goalie was in fine form early on, and kept the score respectable, but it was only a matter of time before the waves of Salmon Arm pressure eventually turned into goals.
The final score in the semifinal match was a one-sided 10-0 win for Salmon Arm, which gave the bantam Silverbacks an opportunity to play against another undefeated team in the final game of the tournament.
The championship game featured a team from Surrey that had both size and skill – and played with a little more fire than previous opponents.
Ultimately it was the combination of speed and selfless play that led the Salmon Arm Bantam Silverbacks to an 11-3 victory over Surrey.
Despite the lack of turkey and fixings to go along with their medals, the boys from Salmon Arm made sure their Thanksgiving 2018 will be remembered for hustle, teamwork and a shiny new trophy.
Submitted by Gene Doray