Plenty of positives as Leafs conclude September
By The Nelson Daily Sports
Despite finishing September with a loss Saturday to the Columbia Valley Rockies Saturday in Invermere, there are plenty of positives to take away after the opening month of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season for the Nelson Leafs.
Nelson remains in top in the Murdoch Division, posting an impressive 7-1 record to lead the Beaver Valley Nitehawks by two points.
Former Leaf Ben Kelsch proved to be the Leaf killer, stopping 39 of 41 shots to rally the Rockies to the 4-2 victory. Nelson opened the weekend blasting Castlegar Rebels 5-1.
In the East Kootenay, Nelson started slow allowing the Rockies to grab a 2-0 lead after one period before extending the margin to 3-0 before the Leafs were able to get a puck past Kelsch.
Emery Neilson and David Sanchez scored to bring Nelson to within a goal of the Rockies.
However, Connor Davison scored into an empty net on the power play to secure the victory.
Nelson pummeled Kelsch with 26 shots in the third frame to out shoot the Rockies by a 41-29 margin.
Dylan Fontaine, Gavin Fleck and Erik Lloyd also scored for Columbia Valley, improving to 5-2-0 in the Eddie Mountain Division behind Kimberley Dynamiters. Leaf netminder Caiden Kreitz suffered his first loss of the season in goal. Kreitz is 6-1 on the season.
Friday, Nelson held period leads of 2-1 and 3-1 to roll past the cellar-dwelling Rebels.
Trail Thompson and Ryan Piva sandwiched goals around Jesse Belley’s tally for the Rebels in the first period. Tyler Nypower, finishing the game with three points, scored his first as a member of the Leafs in the second frame before Kaleb Comishin and Emery Neilson added insurance markers in the third period.
Thompson also registered three points for Nelson.
Nelson outshot the Rebels 35-24 while C.J. Wedenig earned his first win of the KIJHL season during his first start with Nelson. Davyn LaRocke took the loss in goal for Castlegar, struggling to start the season with one win in six attempts.
Castlegar gets another chance to take down the West Kootenay rivals when the teams meet again Friday at the NDCC Arena.
Nelson then travels to Fruitvale to meet the Beaver Valley Nitehawks Saturday.Nelson won the only previous meeting between the two Murdoch rivals, 3-2 in Nelson.
Piva continue red-hot points streak
Leaf sniper Ryan Piva registered five points during weekend, including a four-point performance against Castlegar to increase his point total to 18 on the season.
Piva leads all Nelson scorers and sits third overall on KIJHL leaderboard, 10 behind front runner Brody Dale of Kelowna Chiefs. Zach Erhardt of Kelowna is second with 21 points.
Piva leads Nelson in goals scored with 10. Leaf captain Jack Karran and Trail Thompson are tied for second in Leafs’ scoring behind Piva.
Leafs Firefighter of the Game
Nelson defenceman Kalem Hanlon earned Leafs Firefighter of the Game Friday. Hanlon quarterback the power play unit for Nelson while also playing valuable minutes on the penalty kill.
