A pair of third-period goals by Josh Latta secured a 6-4 Salmon Arm Silverbacks home win over the Trail Smoke Eaters that also preserved the Silverbacks’ season for at least one more game.
After Blaine Caton opened the scoring for Trail in the first, Salmon Arm replied in quick succession with Nathan Iannone and Carson Bolduc making it 2-1 ‘Backs going to the second. In the middle frame, Ryan Hogg put Salmon Arm up two before Luke Santerno got Trail back within one.
Colton Thomas’ first BCHL goal, early in the third, made it 4-2 ‘Backs and the teams traded tallies from there. Connor Brown-Maloski scored for Trail, followed by Latta’s first, then Santerno with his second and Latta again to wrap up the scoring. Trail holds a 3-1 series advantage with Game 5 happening Friday in Trail.
Carmine Buono’s overtime winner clinched a 4-3 road win and 4-0 series triumph over the Cowichan Valley Capitals. After a scoreless first, the Caps went up by two in the second on early goals by Mitch Skapski and Max Newton but Ben Berard got one back for the Kings and it was 2-1 after two. Powell River went ahead in the third with Tristan Mullin and Carter Turnbull scoring but Haydn Hopkins notched the tying goal with a little more than five minutes to go. Buono’s winner came at 1:49 of overtime; Brian Wilson made 30 saves for the win.
The Prince George Spruce Kings came out firing with a three-goal first period that chased Wenatchee Wild starter Anthony Yamnitsky and paved the way to a 7-4 PG win that kept their season alive. Tyler Anderson opened the scoring on the power play with Ben Poisson and Bryan Allbee following to put PG up 3-0 after one. It was a four-goal lead 56 seconds into the second on Kyle Johnson’s goal before Alex Bates got the Wild on the board. Ethan De Jong got what would be the winner late in the second. Early in the third, Johnson made it 6-1 with his second of the game before the Wild struck for three in a row with Matt Baker, Dakota Raabe and AJ Vanderbeck scoring to get within two. Ben Brar’s empty-netter with under a minute left sealed the deal for PG. Game 5 goes Friday in Prince George with Wenatchee holding a 3-1 series edge.
Cole Pickup scored twice in the third period, allowing the Victoria Grizzlies to earn a 4-3 road win that puts them up 3-1 in the series on the Nanaimo Clippers. Lucas Clark opened the scoring in the first for the Grizz but Sean Buchanan replied for Nanaimo a little over a minute later. Jamie Rome put Victoria up 2-1 going to the second but in the middle frame, Josh Blanchard and Adam Pilotte scored to put Nanaimo ahead 3-2 but they were the last players to score on Matthew Galajda for the evening. Pickup got the tying goal 1:22 into the third and got the winner just past the midway point. Game 5 goes Friday in Victoria.
