Leafs Baldo earns 3 Stars of the Week honour
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Nelson Leafs climb up the Neil Murdoch standings is due in a large part to the play of Kitimat defenceman Ayden Baldo, who was selected one of the Hudl Instat Kootenay International Junior Hockey League 3 Stars of the Week for the period ending Feb. 4/24.
Baldo joins forward Riley Langille of the Kimberley Dynamiters and defenceman Colton Phillips-Watts of the Kamloops Storm as this week’s KIJHL selections.
The stay-at-home defenceman helped the Leafs move into third spot in the Murdoch Division, three points in front of rival Castlegar Rebels, in wins against the Spokane Braves and Fernie Ghostriders by collecting three assists in two games.
Against Spokane, Baldo had two assists and against Fernie he collected one.
He finished plus-nine on the weekend. Baldo has three points in 13 games since coming over from the Campbell River Storm in early December.
Langille – Top Forward – The Perth, Australia native helped the Dynamiters win its games against the Columbia Valley Rockies and Golden Rockets by scoring four goals and adding two assists. Against the Rockies, Langille scored a hat-trick, including the game-winner, with two assists in their 9-3 win. Against the Rockets, he scored in a 3-0 win. In three games since coming over from the Campbell River Storm of the VIJHL, Langille has four goals and nine points.
Phillips-Watts – Top Defenceman – The Quesnel product helped the Storm earn back-to-back wins against the Sicamous Eagles by saving 62 of 63 total shots for a 0.50 goals against average and a .984 save percentage. Phillips-Watts helped the Storm earn a 4-1 win, then had a 31-save performance in a 3-0 win for his third shutout of the season matching a season high. It’s the third time that Phillips-Watts has been named the Top Goalie. In 29 games, he has 18 wins (second in the KIJHL) with a .935 SP (second) and a 2.12 GAA (second).
The Leafs and Rebels meet Friday in a showdown for the third spot in the Murdoch Division at the Castlegar Complex.
Nelson, 7-2-1 in its last 10 games, is unbeaten in five games entering Friday’s contest.
Meanwhile, the Rebels, 3-6-0-1 in its last 10 games is winless in seven games.
Saturday, Nelson returns home to face Spokane Braves at 7 p.m. in the NDCC Arena.
The Leafs conclude the regular season Friday, February 16 against Castlegar at the NDCC Arena before visiting Beaver Valley February 17th.
