The Beaver Valley Nitehawks hit the highway this weekend and will try to keep their October unbeaten streak going when they land in Golden to face the Rockets tonight and the Columbia Valley Rockies in Invermere on Saturday.
The Hawks are coming off impressive wins over the Nelson Leafs, 2-1, and Golden Rockets, 5-1, last weekend, but still lost ground to the Grand Forks Border Bruins, a team that won all three of its weekend home games to overtake the Leafs for first place in the Neil Murdoch Division.
The Bruins beat the Rockets 7-4 at home on Friday, handed the Eddie Mountain Division leading Kimberley Dynamiters just their second loss of the season in a 4-2 victory Saturday, before defeating the Spokane Braves 4-2 Sunday to launch them into top spot with 17 points and an 8-3-0-1 record.
B.V. at 6-3-0-1 trails the Bruins by four points but also has two games in hand, and the weekend games against the 1-8-1-0 Rockets and 3-4-2-0 Rockies should be money in the bank for a surging Nitehawks team. The Bruins are also headed to the East Kootenay with games against the Dynamiters and the Fernie Ghostriders, while Nelson plays the Rebels in Castlegar and the Braves in Spokane.
The Hawks also will have Rossland’s Karsten Jang back in the line up after his release from the Trail Smoke Eaters. Jang’s addition will certainly shore up a blue line that has played shorthanded the first month of the season. Yet, even with Jang, the Hawks have only five regular d-men and will likely continue to utilize captain Sam Swanson on the back end or affiliate players when possible.
The Hawks next home game goes against the Creston Valley Thunder Cats on Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m.