Williams backstops Leafs past rival Castlegar
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The top Kootenay International Junior Hockey League goaltender just keeps on winning.
And so does the club team — Nelson Leafs.
The Green and White won for the four straight time Sunday afternoon in Castlegar, riding the 14-save performance of netminder Josh Williams to a 2-1 KIJHL victory over the Rebels.
Nicholas Wihak and Logan Wullum scored power play goals in the first period for all the scoring the Leafs would need.
Ed Lindsey cut the margin in half for the hometown Rebels with a second-period power play marker.
However, that would be the only goal the Rebels would score as Williams, leading the KIJHL with a 1.44 goals against average along with a .951 save percentage, nailed the door shut on the Castlegar shooters to register his league-leading 11th win.
Nelson out shot the Rebels 32-15 to increase its lead in the Murdoch Division to seven points over second-place Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
The Hawks lost 7-2 to Kimberley Saturday in the East Kootenay.
Nelson, 16-3-1-0-1, continues its road swing away from the NDCC Arena with a trip to the East Kootenay.
Friday, Nelson travels to Golden to face the Rockets before meeting the Fernie Ghostriders Saturday in Sparwood.
The next home game for Nelson is Saturday, November 25 against Castlegar Rebels.
ICE CHIPS: Nelson not only leads the Murdoch Division, but is also the overall leader in the KIJHL with 34 points — three points in front of Kimberley Dynamiters. . . . Former Leafs netminder Quinn Yeager was in goal for this new team in Grand Forks Sunday. However, the Bruins gave the ex-Leaf not offensive support as Grand Forks lost 3-0 to the Braves in Spokane. . . . Sunday, Josh Williams was selected the Leafs game star for the second straight game. . . . Sunday’s loss snapped a five-game Castlegar winning streak.
