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Creston Thundercats beat B.V. Nitehawks in triple overtime

Thundercats Stavros Koutsantonis scores in third OT for 6-5 win over Beaver Valley Nitehawks
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The Creston Valley Thundercats beat the Beaver Valley Nitehawks 6-5 in triple OT. Photo: Jim Bailey

Six periods of hockey and 165 shots on goal ended with the Creston Valley Thundercats taking a commanding 3-1 lead in the Neil Murdoch Division final over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.

The Thundercat’s Stavros Koutsantonis scored with 1:54 to go in the third overtime period to defeat the Nitehawks 6-5 in Game 4 of the KIJHL playoff in Creston on Wednesday night.

The winning goal came on the power play. After the Nitehawks player was sent off for tripping, Luke Chakrabarti and Blake Anderson set up Koutsantonis for the game winning goal on Creston’s 96th shot at B.V. goalie Connor Stojan.

Incredibly, the win puts the fifth seed from the Eddie Mountain Division in prime position to make it to the Kootenay Conference final representing the Neil Murdoch Division.

The Nitehawks took a 2-1 lead on goals from Timothy Jozsa and Boris Hristov, but four straight Creston tallies put the Thundercats up 5-2 midway through the third period.

Cue the comeback.

The Hawks rallied scoring three times on goals from Nathan Dominici, Joel Smyth and Kaleb Percival, who scored his third of the post season with three minutes left in regulation to force overtime.

B.V. had their chances to win in it the first OT, but the Thundercats fought back and carried the play through the final two overtime periods, outshooting the Hawks 20-9 in the second extra frame, and 18-6 in the third.

In all, Creston outshot the Nitehawks 96-69 with Jacob Burnside earning the win in the Thundercats net, and Stojan the player of the game for B.V. The Thundercats went 2-for-11 on the power play, while the Nitehawks were 0-for-6.

The Nitehawks will look to rally at home and claw their way back into the series for a hopeful Game 7.

Game 5 of the series goes on Friday at the Hawks Nest with the puck drop at 7 p.m. Game 6 will go on Saturday in Creston at the Johnny Bucyk Arena at 7:30 p.m.

Read: Nitehawks take Game 2, split with Thundercats



Jim Bailey

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