Leaf embark on tough six-game road swing
By The Nelson Daily Sports
After spending most of the first two months of the season at home, the Nelson Leafs embark on a six-game Kootenay International Junior Hockey League road swing that takes the Green and White in the Okanagan and East Kootenay.
The early season home games, however, has allowed the Leafs to maintain the early lead in Neil Murdoch standings.
Currently Nelson is 12-4-0-1 and holds a three-point margin over second-place Beaver Valley.
The Leafs have primarily achieved this mark with a 7-3-0-1 record at home. But a little known stat has Nelson 5-1 on the road.
Nelson opens its road swing in Creston Friday against the Thunder Cats. The Leafs defeated the Cats 6-5 in the only meeting this season between the two teams.
Saturday, the Leafs travel to Beaver Valley to face the high-flying Hawks in Murdoch Division four-pointer. The teams have split the season series at 1-1. However, both games were played in Nelson.
The two games pushes Nelson’s total games to 19 in the first two months of the season.
No other KIJHL team will have played that many games.
The abundance of games has also hurt the Leaf roster injury-wise as no less than five starters were out of the lineup during Sunday’s loss to Summerland.
Next home game is November 12 against Grand Forks.
ICE CHIPS: Nelson’s Patrick Martens maintained a two-point lead over Ryan Edwards of Beaver Valley. Martens accumulated four points during the weekend to continue his game streak to 12. The Maritime native has registered multiple points in nine of the 12 games. Teammate Colton Schell and Nik Newman are eighth and ninth, respectively.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
