Brandon Wells stopped 34 shots and Dylan Heppler netted the winner as the Beaver Valley Nitehawks skated to a 3-1 victory over the Castlegar Rebels on Sunday.
Heppler scored his third goal of the season finishing a 2-on-1 with Jace Weegar to put the Hawks up 2-0 midway through the first period. Weegar feathered a perfect pass over the sprawling defenceman to Heppler at the top of the slot. Rebel goalie Joseph McLeod made a tremendous save off Heppler’s initial blast but the Nitehawk forward followed it up and put in the rebound.
After a 5-3 victory over the Columbia Valley Rockies on Friday, the win Sunday extended the Hawks unbeaten streak to six games while dealing their Neil Murdoch division rival Rebels’ their second loss of the season.
Weegar opened the scoring at 15:17 when Heppler sent a breakaway pass from his own blue line on the tape of a streaking Weegar who beat McLeod low stick side. After, Heppler’s goal, Castlegar’s Mike Bhatos spun and banged a loose puck past Wells with 53 seconds to play in the opening frame. But the Hawks replied when Tyler Hartman deflected in a Evan Gorman blast from the point with eight seconds remaining in the period.
The Hawks outshot the Rebels 19-11 in the first, but both goalies closed the door making several big saves in the second and third to keep the score 3-1. B.V. outshot Castlegar 40-34, with both Wells and McLeod named the game stars.
The Hawks retain a stranglehold on first place in the Murdoch division with a perfect 6-0 record while the Rebels hold on to second spot at 4-2.