DIFFERENT NIGHT BUT SAME RESULT – MALOSKI CELEBRATING GOAL
Sixty minutes and two overtime periods solved nothing in Salmon Arm last night as the Smoke Eaters and Silverbacks fought to a 1-1 tie. With the exception of the second period when Salmon Arm out-shot the Smokies 14-4 it was an evenly played match.
The teams played to a scoreless first and second period with each team trading goals in the third. Connor Brown Maloski put Trail up 1-0 at 11:16 of the third. After taking a pass from Mitchell Barker and Jeremy Lucchini he wheeled around just inside the Silverbacks blueline and fired a shot on net that found it’s way behind netminder Nic Tallarico. Carter Stephenson of the Backs tied the score at 14:38 that proved to be all the scoring in the game.
Both teams had chances in the two overtime periods but neither team could solve the opposing netminders, both of whom, earned stars in the game.
Goaltender, Nic Tallarico, of the Silverbacks was named first star of the game making 34 saves on 35 shots. Linden Marshall in the Smokie’s net was named second star stopping 42 of the 43 shots fired at him. Carter Stephenson of the Backs was named third star. Fortis Energy Player of the Game was Salmon Arm’s Ryan Hogg.
Of note, on the night, was a penalty assessed to Trail’s Josh Laframboise at the 4:43 mark of the second period. He was assessed a 5 minute major penalty for a hit to the head on the Back’s Connor Sundquist. There seemed to be some indecision on the part of the referees on the call and a replay of the hit didn’t show any contact to the head. At the time of this post there was no indication of a review by the league.
In other games on Tuesday night two teams chasing Trail for third place, Merritt and West Kelowna were in action. Merritt defeated the Vernon Vipers 3-0 and West Kelowna dropped a decision to Langley 5-3. Trail is in third place with 53 points, West Kelowna in fourth with 50 points and Merritt is in fifth withh 50 points. Both West Kelowna and Merritt have a game in hand on the Smoke Eaters.
Trail’s next game is tonight in Penticton before returning home to face the same Penticton Vees on Friday night. Game time is 7:30 PM.
