Hawks outguns Nelson to regain home ice advantage in Murdoch Division Semi Final
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks regained home-ice advantage in the Murdoch Division Semi Final against the Nelson Leafs Monday night at the NDCC Arena.
Beaver Valley scored five times in the third period to post a 5-2 to Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff victory over the Green and White before a crowd of more than 500 fans.
The Hawks take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series with game four Tuesday in Nelson.
Puck drop is 7 p.m.
Nelson appeared poised to ride a first period goal by Dylan Williamson to the series lead after scoring the all-important road victory — 5-4 in overtime — Saturday in Fruitvale.
Williamson, a marked man on the Leafs roster all night, opened the scoring in the first period.
The speedy winger took a pass at the blueline before speeding past the Beaver Valley defence and depositing a backhand shot past netminder Carsen Schamerhorn.
Nelson missed a great opportunity in the second period when Reid Anderson was whistled for a five-minute major for boarding.
However, the Leafs failed to increase their lead as Schamerhorn came up big in the Beaver Valley nets.
The opportunity cost the Leafs in the third as the game quickly changed in favour of the Hawks.
Spencer McLean and Taylor Stafford, his first of two in the game, scored 73 seconds apart to turn a deficit into a lead for the visitors.
Beaver Valley kept the pressure on the Leafs scoring two power play goals 12 seconds apart by Andrew Miller and Mitch Foyle.
Nelson cut the margin to 4-2 when Brendan Smith scored.
But Stafford ended any comeback with his second goal, also on the power play, in the final minutes of the game as the Hawks out shot Nelson 15-9 in the third period.
Nelson ended the game with a 31-29 advantage in shots thanks in part to a 16-9 margin in the second frame.
Schamerhorn registered the win, while Jason Mailhoit took the loss in goal after a stellar performance Saturday in Fruitvale.
BLUELINES: The Leafs dressed 16 players and two goalies, including three from the Kootenay Ice of the BC Major Midget Hockey League — netminder Jason Mailhoit, forward Tanner Costa and Aigne McGead-Bruce. Hawks had a full roster of 20 players. . . . Leaf defenceman Darnel St. Pierre served the second game of his two-game suspension for check-to-head hits. St. Pierre will be a welcome edition to the Leaf blueline, that saw Nelson move forward Blair Andrews back to bolster the defensive core. . . . Before the game Nelson Leaf president Larry Martel presented Bill McDonell and Denis Kleine with a cheque for $500 in support of the purchase of the “Man in Motion” bronze sculpture located at the NDCC entrance. A replica is on display in the Nelson Leafs cabinet next to the Sound Booth. . . . In Spokane, Castlegar scored twice in the third period to edge the Braves 2-1 and grab a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Murdoch semi. Yannis Soukas, on the power play, and Darren Medeiros scored for the Rebels. Game four is Tuesday in Spokane.
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