It was only a matter of time before the Beaver Valley Nitehawks found their scoring touch as they took five-of-six points in three weekend KIJHL matches.
The Hawks fell 6-5 to the Grand Forks Border Bruins in overtime on Friday, before bouncing back with a 6-5 win over the Chase Heat Saturday, and a 6-4 victory over the Spokane Braves on Sunday. The wins may be a turning point for the young team as they scored more goals in the three games than they had in the previous seven.
Sparked by a four-point game from Mitch Foyle, two goals and two assists, the Hawks fired 62 shots at the Braves goaltender in the 6-4 win, to pull within a point of Neil Murdoch division leader Nelson Leafs. Foyle equalled his season’s totals with an eight-point weekend, netting two goals and an assist in the loss to the Bruins, and counting a high-light reel goal against Chase when he stripped the defenceman of the puck, and walked in all alone beating the Heat goalie with a nice move, before lifting it high glove side.
The Hawks Brayden Horcoff also had a good weekend getting three helpers versus the Heat, and netting the eventual winner at 13:39 of the second period when he knocked down a shot from the point and backhanded it by Braves goalie Trevor Dilauro to put the Hawks up 5-3. Spencer McLean would net his first goal of the year, as he banged in a loose puck to make it 6-3 midway through the final frame.
Jace Weeger and Andrew Miller also scored for the Hawks while Johnny Marzec had two goals and an assist for the Braves. Carson Schamerhorn got the win in net, stopping 19 shots.
In Saturday’s match against Chase, Ross Armour scored the winner, taking a McLean pass in front of the net and making a quick move to the backhand to beat the Heat goalie 1:45 into overtime to give the Hawks a 6-5 victory.
The Hawks controlled much of the game, outshooting the Heat 52 to 39, but twice relinquished two-goal leads to give the Heat a point.
However, on Friday it was the Hawks’ Miller who scored with 2:26 remaining to tie the game at five and force an overtime with the Border Bruins. But Grand Forks leading scorer Max Newton would net the winner 42 seconds into the four-on-four frame to give them the victory in their first meeting with the Nitehawks this season.
The Nitehawks play a home-and-home with Kimberley Dynamiters this weekend, with the first game going at the Hawks Nest in Fruitvale at 7:30 p.m.
See more on the Nitehawks in Tuesday’s Trail Times.