The injury bug has turned into a plague for the Beaver Valley Nitehawks this season.
Beaver Valley battled to a 7-6 overtime loss against the Nelson Leafs on Friday, but the third-period comeback from a 6-3 deficit proved costly, as three of the Hawks top scorers left the game with injury.
“It’s a tough stretch right now,” said Nitehawks head coach Terry Jones. “After a really solid effort Friday night, being shorthanded is tough, but really we’re not playing well.”
Hawks forwards Angus Amadio, Bradley Ross, and Simon Nemethy were injured on Friday and joined forward Morgan Peace, d-man Quaid Anderson, and starting goaltender Noah Decottignies on the Injury Reserve (IR) list. With six of the Hawks top players out of action, goals proved hard to come by in losses to the Summerland Steam and the Golden Rockets on Saturday and Sunday, yet, coach Jones refuses to use banged up bodies as a crutch.
“We’re really uncharacteristically out of our habits right now, turning the puck over in our zone, not making good plays at the offensive blue line and, defensively, as a five-man unit in front of our goalie, not doing a good job defensively.”
Last year, injuries decimated the Nitehawks line up throughout the year, with over 120 man-games missed. So far this season only two players, Ryan Crisalli and Jared Stocks, have played all 16 games. The full-face-mask rule imposed by BC Hockey this season has prompted many concerns, and begs the question whether there has been a rise in head-shot related penalties ie: cross checks, hit-to-the-head, high-sticking, and roughing penalties.
“Missing guys is one thing, but it’s been two years, and I’ve never seen so many concussions and injuries, just over and over and over again, it’s been a crazy stretch,” said Jones.
Despite solid play from affiliate call ups Jaxson Waterstreet, Austin Mackenzie, and Brady Ross, the Hawks offence couldn’t compensate and were stymied by two beatable teams on Saturday and Sunday, managing just three goals combined in the two games.
“We need guys to step up,” said Jones. “Last night (versus Summerland) we didn’t get the step up that we needed and tonight (Sunday) same thing. We had a great goaltending performance that we wasted, through two periods, and it’s the little things that kill you, you don’t block shots you don’t pay the price, you end up losing.”
The Nitehawks held a 1-0 lead heading into the third period, but the 7-7-0-1 Golden Rockets scored four straight goals to beat the Hawks 4-1, and hand B.V. their fifth straight loss.
Rockets goalie Ryan Baker stopped 34 of 35 shots and Jayden Hendricks scored twice to lead Golden to its seventh win of the season.
B.V. captain Jake Yuris scored the Nitehawks only goal, and it held up until the 14:04 mark of the third when defensive lapses allowed the Rockets back in. Hendricks walked in and wired a shot top corner, and then Golden took the lead outright at 11:16 on a Kale Wareham goal. Nitehawks goalie Saran Virdee stopped Jack Farefield on the door step, but Wareham fired in the rebound for the game winner.
B.V. battled back and did everything but score, as a Hawks forward rang a shot off the crossbar, and another had Baker down and out on a scramble in front but could not find the twine.
With 5:18 to play, the Rockets Janson Pashniak was able to sweep in the puck while on his back to put Golden up 3-1, and Hendricks netted his sixth of the season into an empty net with 58 seconds left for the 4-1 final.
“Defensively, we’re only missing one defenceman so we shouldn’t have any problem from our backend, but all of a sudden we do,” said Jones. “We’re just not making good choices and decisions.”
Both team pumped 35 shots on net, with Virdee and Baker earning player of the game nods.
On Saturday, Summerland jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Cory Loring, Tyson Conroy, and Liam McLaren chasing Hawks goalie Jacob Romanowski from the crease midway through the middle frame.
B.V. got on the board with a Ryan Crisalli marker at 2:35 of the second, and Paul Leroux tallied a late third period goal for the 3-2 final.
Trail fired 27 shots at the Summerland goal. Romanowski stopped 11 of 14 before being replaced by Virdee, who stopped all 12 from the midway point of the second.
In Friday’s match against the Leafs, the Nitehawks came back from a 6-3 deficit in the third period to tie it and force overtime, but Nelson’s Shawn Campbell iced it on an extra-time power-play goal.
Leroux netted a hat trick for the Hawks, Nolan Corrado scored twice and added an assist, and Luke Recchi netted one in the 7-6 loss. The Hawks setback was the third of the season to the Leafs, and although a solid outing, the resulting injuries hampered the Nitehawks the rest of the weekend.
B.V. outshot Nelson 28-27 and went 2-for-3 on the power play, the Leafs were 3-for-4.
The 8-7-0-1 Nitehawks will need to fine-tune their depleted attack in preparation for the two top teams in the Kootenay and Okanagan/Shuswap Conferences this weekend.
“We have to get back to work, and I think we need everyone to take the steps … We have to look at who we have in the line up, rather than who we don’t have.”
The Nitehawks host the 11-3-0-0 Kimberley Dynamiters on Friday and the 14-0-0-1 Kelowna Chiefs on Saturday, with the puck drop at 7:30 p.m.