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KIJHL: Beaver Valley Nitehawks hold off Castlegar Rebels

The win puts the Hawks into sole possession of first place in the Neil Murdoch division.

Beaver Valley Nitehawks forward Spencer McLean scored twice including the winner to lift the Hawks to a 5-3 victory over the Castlegar Rebels Monday night at the Hawks Nest.

McLean made it 4-2 with just 26 seconds remaining in the second period finishing a nice passing play from McKoy Hauk and Ross Armour, while netting his ninth goal of the season and 23rd point.

The win puts the Hawks into sole possession of first place in the Neil Murdoch division two points up on Nelson pending the outcome of Tuesday night’s game against the Leafs.

Despite getting outshot 17-8 in the first period, Castlegar took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Travis Wilkie.  But B.V. would battle back in the second scoring four goals to take a 4-2 lead into the third period.

Jacob Boyczuk scored 59 seconds into the middle frame with Kyle Hope and Devin Nemes assisting on Boyczuk’s 10th goal of the season. Hope would give the Hawks a 2-1 lead with a shorthanded marker at 11:37 taking a pass from Walker Sidoni and beating Rebel goalie Patrick Zubick. But Castlegar’s Dylan Ofner would draw the Rebels even finishing a setup from Dawson Haines with 3:44 to play in the period. However, 36 seconds later McLean notched his first on the night and would net the winner before the period was out.

The game was a typical Nitehawk-Rebel match with hard hits, and high intensity throughout the match up.

Wilkie scored his second of the night for the Rebels at 17:20 of the third period but Hawks defenceman Andrew Miller iced it with less than four minutes to play with assists going to Taylor Stafford and Sam Swanson.

The Hawks outshot the Rebels by a 52-31 margin and went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Rebels were 0-for-2.

The Nitehawks played Nelson Tuesday night but the score was unavailable at press time.

Beaver Valley plays the Leafs in Nelson tonight at 7 p.m. and hosts Revelstoke at the B.V. Arena Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Spokane on Sunday at 1 p.m.