One night after its offence was stymied by solid goaltending, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks exploded to give themselves another boost of confidence heading towards the post season.
The Nitehawks fired 37 shots at Sicamous Eagles’ netminder Chris Kingdon on Friday but could only manage a 2-2 draw.
They reloaded and came out firing on Saturday pounding the Grand Forks Border Bruins 9-2.
Nine different Hawks got in on the scoring Saturday in Fruitvale with Ryan Baines collecting four assists and Dallas Calvin finishing with three points.
That type of team production is just what the coaching staff is looking for as it marches towards the playoffs, which begin in a week.
Regardless of the results in the team’s final three games, the Nitehawks are already booked to face the Nelson Leafs in the first round of the playoffs.
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FROM PAGE 9
The first two games of the best-of-seven series will be played at the Beaver Valley Arena on Feb. 15 and 16.
Beaver Valley took a 5-1 lead into the third against Grand Forks before scoring another four goals in a 12-minute span in the final stanza.
It was a different story Friday when the Hawks blasted 27 shots at the Eagles’ net in the opening 40 minutes yet trailed 2-1.
Colton Donselaar’s power play goal with four minutes left in the second period was the only shot to elude Kingdon after two periods.
It took a shorthanded goal by Ryon Sookro six minutes into the third to finally get the Hawks back on even ground and eventually force overtime.
It was Sookro’s team-leading 28th goal of the season as he continued his excellent sophomore year in Beaver Valley.
Then Beaver Valley goaltender Mike Vlanich took his turn shutting down opposing shooters as he stopped all eight Eagles’ shots through 10 minutes of sudden death overtime to earn the Nitehawks its first draw of the season.
Beaver Valley wraps up the regular season with a home game Tuesday night against Spokane and a home-and-home series with Castlegar on Friday and Saturday.