The Kootenay Ice were poised to pick up two points against the Vancouver NW Hawks on Sunday at the Cominco Arena, but a third-period comeback spoiled the celebration as the Hawks swept the Ice on the weekend.
The BC Major Midget NW Hawks defeated Kootenay on Saturday 7-2, but the Ice came out with conviction on Sunday building a 3-0 lead, only to give up four unanswered goals and lose 4-3 to the Hawks.
The sweep lifts the Hawks into sixth place in the BCMML standings with a 12-10-1-1 record, while the Ice sit in 10th place with a 4-19-1-0 record.
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Ice forward Noah Quinn opened the scoring at 15:19 with assists to Austin McKenzie and Anthony Williams and Cranbrook native Dayton Nelson put Kootenay up 2-0 finishing a setup from Quinn and Michel Hjelkrem at 4:53.
Jaxson Waterstreet then made it 3-0 with 4:37 to go in the second period, converting a pretty passing play with Mason McLeod and Wyatt Peterson.
But the Hawks fired back. Justin Clark tied it wiring a shot past the blocker of Ice goalie Charles Curiston to get the Vancouver team on the board with 2:49 left in the period, and Garrett Valk made it a one goal game with just 26 seconds remaining in the middle frame.
The Ice were able to kill off back-to-back penalties to Hjelkrem early in the third, but Vancouver forward Jake McLean scored his 15th goal of the season midway through the period to tie the game at 3-3.
The Hawks then took advantage of another power-play opportunity, with Tyler Evans beating Curiston with 5:49 left in regulation for the game winner and a 4-3 Hawks victory.
In Game 1 on Saturday, three second period goals broke open a tight 2-1 match after one, to lift the Hawks to a 7-2 victory.
Jake McLean and the Hawks leading scorer Tyler Cristall each scored twice, with Owen Howard, Brandon Buhr and Jonathan Schlender rounded out the scoring for Vancouver. Caleb Goncalves and Slade Desharnais replied for the Ice.
Kootenay has an extended break for the holidays, and returns to action on Jan. 12 when they travel to Nanaimo to play the North Island Silvertips.
sports@trailtimes.ca
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