The Beaver Valley Nitehawks put in some overtime on the weekend and knocked off the two Kootenay Conference division leaders in dramatic fashion.
The Nitehawks came back from a 2-0 deficit against the Neil Murdoch Division leading Grand Forks Border Bruins on Saturday, a day after beating the Eddie Mountain Division leading Columbia Valley Rockies 3-2 in overtime on Friday.
Nitehawks forward Kaleb Percival scored the game winning goal in the shootout in Grand Forks for a come from behind 3-2 victory.
Grand Forks led 2-0 after 40 minutes on goals from Jonah Smith and Jackson Smith. The win was almost in the Border Bruins grasp, but with 4:47 left in regulation, Nitehawks forward Timothy Jozsa scored a shorthanded goal on a setup from Ethan Smyth. Then just 67 seconds later, Percival set up Boris Hristov for his sixth of the season to tie the game and force the extra frame.
B.V. dominated the five-minute overtime period but could not beat Shebansky.
The Nitehawks Tyson Tokarz beat Bruins goalie Ethan Shebansky to open the shootout, but Bruins forward Matteus Reis tied it. Both second shooters were stopped, leaving the door open for Percival. B.V. goalie Connor Stojan stoned the third Grand Forks shooter, Spencer Horning, for his 13th win of the season.
Grand Forks outshot Beaver Valley 40-35 and were 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Nitehawks went 0-for-4.
In Friday’s match against Columbia Valley, B.V. goalie Nathan Presley stopped 55 shots and Austin McLean scored the game winning goal in overtime for a 3-2 victory over the Rockies.
Beaver Valley led 2-1 heading into the third period on goals from Tokarz and Joel Smyth. CV desperate to tie it fired 27 shots at Presley in the final 20 minutes, with Kayde Kinaschuk beating the Calgary native 6:43 into the final frame to force overtime.
B.V. went on a power play early in the overtime period when Jack Weininger was called for holding, but could not capitalize. However, with 57 seconds remaining, Gavin Tritt and Percival set up McLean for the game winner.
The Rockies outshot the Nitehawks 57-36 and were 0-for-5 on the power play, while B.V. was 0-for-3.
With the victories, the Nitehawks record improves to 22-13-1-2 and trail the 23-12-1-2 Border Bruins by just two points with six games remaining. The Nitehawks return to action Tuesday night against the Castlegar Rebels in Castlegar with the puck drop at 7 p.m.