The Beaver Valley Nitehawks served notice to the Nelson Leafs that they’re in a fight for the top spot in the Neil Murdoch division with an impressive 7-3 victory on Friday.
The Nitehawks’ special teams were firing on all cylinders going 3-for-4 on the power play while limiting the Leafs to just one goal on six tries.
Ryan Edwards led the Hawks with a goal and two assists including netting the winner off a Dan Holland feed at 11:21 of the second period.
The Hawks soared to a 3-1 first-period lead, starting with a powerplay goal by Keenan Patershuk at 16:46.
After the Leafs Troy Petritch tied it, Taylor Stafford would score on a nice individual effort before Russell Mortlock buried a Jacob Boyczuk set up.
The Leafs would mount a brief comeback in the second making it 4-3 on goals from Alec Wilkinson and Linden Horswill, but three third-period tallies from Sheldon Hubbard, Dallas Calvin, and Braden Fuller iced it for the Hawks.
With the win the Hawks drew within three points of the Neil Murdoch division leading Leafs, however Nelson would stretch it to five after defeating Golden 5-1 on Sunday.
The idle Hawks return to action in a rare pair of midweek games against Grand Forks tonight in Midway, and against Spokane at the Beaver Valley Arena Wednesday night at 7 p.m.