It didn’t take the Beaver Valley Nitehawks’ Dallas Calvin long to make an impact, as the recent returnee scored the winning goal in the Nitehawks 3-0 shut out of the North Okanagan Knights at the B.V. Arena Saturday.
The Hawks split a pair of games against the Kootenay International Junior League’s top two teams falling to the Nelson Leafs 5-2 in Nelson Friday before shutting out the Knights.
Mitch Foyle fed Calvin who made no mistake 21 seconds into the opening period, beating the NOK’s goalie Zack Dyment for the 1-0 lead.
Minutes later, the NOK’s Mathew Halvorson took a charging penalty, and on the ensuing power play Taylor Stafford would work the puck to Calvin who would then set up Ryan Edwards for the insurance marker at 14:29 of the first.
Goaltender Josh Round nailed down the victory for the Hawks, bouncing back from a tough loss against the Leafs, to stop all 17 shots for his first shutout of the season.
Edwards would set up Michael Bell who netted his fifth of the season with just over five minutes remaining in the second period to close out the scoring.
The spirited match saw 136 minutes in penalties between the two teams, including 92 to the Knights and 44 to the Hawks, in what would turn out to be a tough road trip for the Okanagan division team.
With one loss under their belts before embarking on the Kootenay division road swing, the NOKs eked out just one win in three games, a 2-1 overtime decision against Spokane Friday, before falling to the Hawks Saturday, and losing 4-2 to the Grand Forks Border Bruins Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Nitehawks dropped a 5-2 match to the Neil Murdoch division leading Leafs on Friday, despite outshooting Nelson 22-18.
Nelson jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from former Trail Smoke Eater Linden Horswill, and Aaron Dunlop, but the Hawks would battle back iwth a pair of overtime goals from Bell and Calvin to tie it at 2-2 midway through the second period. But Dunlop would net his second goal of the game and the winner at 6:41, before Alex Wilkinson netted an insurance marker on the PP with 5:07 to go in the middle frame.
The Hawks pressured in the third, but couldn’t beat Leaf goalie Tyler Moffat in the third, and Nelson’s Travis Wellman would ice it with an empty netter with a minute left.
The Leafs then suffered their first loss of the season in a 3-2 OT decision to Castlegar on Saturday, before thumping the Rebels 9-1 in their return meeting in Nelson on Sunday.
The Hawks play in Creston tonight and Nelson on Friday, before returning home for a 1 p.m. game against the Kimberley Dynamiters at the Hawks Nest on Sunday.`