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Beaver Valley Nitehawks extend win streak to five games

The B.V. Nitehawks defeated the Golden Rockets and Columbia Valley Rockies over the weekend
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The Beaver Valley Nitehawks won their fifth game in a row on the weekend with a a pair of wins over the Golden Rockets Friday and the Columbia Valley Rockies on Saturday.

Hawks goalie Owen Sikkes was unbeatable against the Rockies stopping 35 shots and earning his third shutout in eight starts in a 4-0 victory.

B.V. rookie Jake Huculak scored the winning goal and his first as a Nitehawk, converting a Christian Macasso setup with 8:18 to play in the first period for a 1-0 lead.

The Nitehawks made it 2-0 after C.V.’s Brennan Nelson was sent off for head-contact. The Hawks Blake Sidoni and Sam Swanson worked the puck to Nolan Percival who ripped his first goal of the season by Rockies goalie Ben Kelsch at 15:03 of the second.

Trail’s Tommie McConnachie put the Hawks up 3-0 finishing a nice passing play with Morgan Peace and Aiden Jenner just three minutes later, and Bradley Ross notched his seventh of the campaign with assists to Jaxen Gemmell and Dylan Heppler with 2:06 to play for the 4-0 win.

Beaver Valley outshot Columbia Valley 37-35 and went 1-for-3 on the power play while the Rockies were 0-for-3. Sikkes earned the game star for B.V. and is third among KIJHL goaltenders with an impressive 1.50 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage.

In Friday’s matchup against Golden, the Hawks found themselves facing a hot goaltender and stingy defence as the team struggled to find the twine.

Golden stayed even with the Hawks through regulation. But in the first overtime period, Heppler, the Nitehawks leading scorer, took a pass from Sidoni and found the back of the net to break a 1-1 tie and give the visiting Hawks a 2-1 OT victory.

The Rockets opened the scoring when Ryan Partaker beat Hawks goalie Liam Coulter for a 1-0 lead with 4:25 remaining in the first period. Ross got B.V. on the board as he wired a Heppler pass by Rockets goaltender Colton Iwaschuk midway through the middle frame to tie it as the Hawks outshot Golden 20-11 in the period.

A frustrated Nitehawks team had trouble finding any offence in the third, but killed off four penalties including a Rockets two-man advantage with 5:19 to play.

B.V. outshot Golden 45-31 and went 0-for-2 on the pp, while Golden was 0-for-5. Heppler earned player of the game for the Hawks, while goalie Iwaschuk won the honour for the Rockets.

With the wins, the 8-3-0-1 Hawks inched towards the top of the Neil Murdoch Division standings and currently sit two points behind the 9-2-1-0 Nelson Leafs and the 9-4-0-1 Grand Forks Border Bruins. Nelson defeated the Castlegar Rebels 7-3 on Friday and the Spokane Braves 6-1 on Sunday to draw even with the Bruins, who lost to Kimberley 7-2 Friday, before doubling up the Fernie Ghostriders Saturday, 4-2.

The Nitehawks travel to Castlegar to play the Rebels on Friday at 7 p.m. and host the Creston Valley Thunder Cats on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the B.V. Arena.



Jim Bailey

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