A trip to the East Kootenay ended a string of four straight games against Eddie Mountain Division teams for the Beaver Valley Nitehawks on the weekend.
The Nitehawks beat the Golden Rockets 6-2 on Friday night, but lost their third of the four games in a 7-2 setback to the Kimberley Dynamiters on Saturday.
B.V.’s Dylan Heppler opened the scoring at 16:46 of the first period, netting his 12th of the season on the power play on a set up from Jaxen Gemmell and Dylan Kent.
However, the Dynamiters exploded for four straight goals before the period was out with former Nitehawk Brett Roberts tying it, and Nicholas Graham, Cam Russell, and Brock Palmer giving Kimberley a 4-1 lead and chasing Hawks goalie Owen Sikkes at the end of one.
B.V. pushed back in the second outshooting Kimberley 12-5 but couldn’t beat Dynamiters goalie Cody Campbell. Brant Mack beat Liam Coulter with 3:12 to play in the middle frame, and Devon Langelaar and Brandt Bertola rounded out the Dynamiters scoring in the third, with Kent replying for the Nitehawks.
Kimberley outshot Beaver Valley 32-21, and went 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Hawks went 1-for-6.
On Friday, the Nitehawks fired 56 shots at the Golden goal on their way to victory. Bradley Ross scored twice and Evan Gorman notched the winning goal with 2:40 remaining in the opening frame for the Hawks first victory in November.
Ryan Taylor and Nick Runnalls netted back-to-back goals for the Rockets to cut the lead to 3-2, but Jake Huculak, Tommy McConnachie and Gemmell answered for the Hawks and the 6-2 final.
Sikkes was the game’s away star stopping 24 shots, while Colton Iwaschuk earned the honour for Golden.
The unconventional schedule has seen the Nitehawks play every team in the Eddie Mountain and Neil Murdoch Divisions at least once - except the Spokane Braves. That game goes tonight at the Beaver Valley Arena.
The 5-14-1-0 Braves have struggled this year, but are coming off a 3-0 victory over the Grand Forks Border Bruins on Sunday, and will face a Nitehawks team that is also on a downward trend following an unbeaten October.
The puck drop for tonight’s Nitehawks-Braves match up goes at 7 p.m. at the Hawks Nest.