The Beaver Valley Nitehawks will have a tough test this weekend as they face the 6-1-0-0 Eddie Murdoch division Kimberley Dynamiters in a home-and-home.
The Dynamiters’ only loss this season was a surprising 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Golden Rockets in Golden on Saturday. Their record puts them one point behind Fernie Ghostriders for top spot in the division, with the Dynamite holding a game in hand.
“We haven’t faced them yet this year,” said Nitehawk assistant coach Kevin Limbert. “Typically they have a good skating team, they have a bigger ice surface than most so they’re a fast, hard working team and we expect that this year as well.”
Kimberley is loaded with veteran players including Jason Richter and Marco Campanella who are second and third in team scoring. The team’s leading point-getter is Kimberley rookie Coy Prevost 5-5-10, last season’s leading scorer for the Major Midget Kootenay Ice.
The team is also perfect against Neil Murdoch division teams this season, manhandling the Castlegar Rebels in a pair of 7-4 and 7-3 losses last month, and also doubled up the Nelson Leafs 4-2 on Sept. 26.
The Nitehawks continue to improve and will need to keep up the scoring tempo as they did on the weekend when they outshot their opponents by a combined 157-87, nettting 17 goals in three games in a 6-5 overtime loss to Grand Forks, a 6-5 OT win over Chase, and a 6-4 victory against Spokane.
“We watched video last night, and all the things we’ve talked about . . . getting pucks deep, making good dumps, winning battles in the corners, all those things added up to goals, so we’re starting to click and play the style of game we have to,” added Limbert.
The Nitehawks host the Dynamiters at the Hawks Nest at 7:30 Friday, before heading to Kimberley Saturday.