Hawks edge Leafs, Bruins dump Cats to even Murdoch Division series
By Lone Sheep Publishing
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks and Grand Forks Border Bruins rebounded from opening game losses to even their respective Neil Murdoch Division series at 1-1 following Saturday Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Playoff wins.
The Nitehawks scored four unanswered goals in the third period — three markers coming on special teams — to dump the Nelson Leafs 6-2 Saturday at the NDCC Arena.
Meanwhile, Matteus Reis scored three times to power the Border Bruins to a 7-3 romp over Creston Valley Thunder Cats in the Boundary City.
Both best-of-seven Divisional Semi Final series are even, with Games three set for Tuesday in Fruitvale and Creston.
Six different players scored for the Nitehawks with Ollie Clement netting the winner in the third period with a shorthanded tally.
Lucas Gartner, on the power play, Boris Hristov, shorthanded, and Ethan Smyth also scored in the third for the visitors.
Nelson Minor Hockey grad Kaleb Percival and Nathan Dominici also scored for Beaver Valley.
Ryan Quast and Tyson Lautard replied for the Leafs.
The shots were even in the game, each team registering 31.
However, Beaver Valley controlled the third period, outshooting Nelson 11-4.
Friday, Tyson Lautard scored the winner in overtime to spark the Leafs to a 5-4 victory over the Nitehawks.
Nelson held period leads of 2-1 and 4-3 on goals by Dawson Davis, Johnny Carmichael, Seamus Boyd and Crae Dawson — the latter two markers coming on the power play.
Beaver Valley outshot the Leafs 37-29 in the game, including a 15-4 advantage in the third period.
Frederick Larochelle was the winning goalie of record, finishing with 33 saves.
In Grand Forks, the Bruins outscored the Thunder Cats 4-1 in the third period to break open a close game to even the series.
Ray Warrack had three assists to spark the Bruins.
Friday, Blake Anderson scored twice, and Luke Chakrabarti netted the third-period winner to spark Creston to a 3-2 win over the Murdoch Division winning Bruins.
In the Eddie Mountain Division, both Columbia Valley/Fernie and Kimberley/Golden series are even at 1-1.
In the Okanagan Conference, three teams hold 2-0 series leads —Revelstoke over 100 Mile House, Princeton over Summerland and North Okanagan over Osoyoos.
The Kamloops/Sicamous series is even at 1-1.
