The Beaver Valley Nitehawks earned just a point from its three-game weekend, yet paid an even bigger price in its line up.
The point earned in a 7-6 overtime loss against the Nelson Leafs on Friday proved costly, as B.V. lost the services of leading scorers Angus Amadio, Bradley Ross, and Simon Nemethy, to go along with previously injured starters Morgan Peace, goalie Noah Decottignies, and d-man Quaid Anderson.
The Nitehawks brought up midget recruits Jaxson Waterstreet, Austin McKenzie, and Brady Ross, but the injuries proved critical as Amadio, Ross and Nemethy have accounted for 22 of the Hawks 67 goals, and B.V. struggled to find the twine.
On Sunday the Golden Rockets scored four straight goals to overcome a 1-0 third-period deficit and beat the Hawks 4-1. The loss was the fifth straight for B.V., who also fell to the Summerland Steam 3-2 on Saturday.
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 when his point shot went through traffic and in to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead at 5:11 of the second period.
The Nitehawks held the lead until the 14:04 mark of the third when a couple defensive lapses allowed the Rockets back in. Hendricks walked in and wired it 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. The Rockets Janson Pashniak was able to sweep in the puck while on his back to put Golden up 3-1 with 5:18 to play, and Hendricks netted his sixth of the season into an empty net with 58 seconds left for the 4-1 final.
The shots on goal were 35 shots apiece, with both Virdee and Baker earning player of the game nods. Virdee was acquired after Hawks starter Decottignies suffered a concussion.
Saturday, the Hawks had trouble generating any kind of threat as a beatable Summerland Steam team left the Hawks Nest with two points in a 3-2 victory.
The Steam jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Cory Loring, Tyson Conroy, and Liam McLaren early into the second period, chasing Hawks goalie Jacob Romanowski from the crease. 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, while 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, before 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 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 game 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.
Next weekend the Nitehawks host the KIJHL’s top two teams in the Kimberley Dynamiters on Friday and Kelowna Chiefs on Saturday, puck drop at 7:30 p.m.