Chris Stedile and JIM BAILEY
Castlegar News and Trail Times
After defeating the Spokane Braves in round one of the KIJHL playoffs, the Castlegar Rebels fell in four straight in the division final to the nearly unstoppable Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
The Nitehawks capped the series with a 6-3 win Friday in Castlegar.
The first period looked much more promising than previous games with more back and forth. One goal by B.V. was followed by a Rebels goal by forward Ryan Rosich.
The Hawks came right back with two goals but with one second remaining, Aaron Petten pulled Castlegar back into the game and the period ended 3-2.
The second period was scoreless, but in the third the Nitehawks took a 5-2 lead.
Castlegar’s Ed Lindsey took a shot midway through this final period and scored, but it wasn’t enough.
B.V. pushed one more puck into the home team’s net to win the Neil Murdoch division title and oust the Rebels from the playoffs.
B.V. outshot Castlegar 43-31, going 3-for-7 on the power play, while the Rebels went 1-for-4.
The victory ended the best-of-seven series in four games straight for B.V., who also beat the Rebels 4-2 the previous night.
In the latter match, Castlegar was limited to single-digit shots in each period. The Nitehawks were up 3-0 in the second period before the Rebels got on the board. Yannis Soukas managed a powerplay goal with 14 seconds to go.
Jeremy McNeil made a solid attempt to keep his team in the game with an early third period goal but a fourth goal by the Hawks’ Walker Sidoni finished off the game.
Beaver Valley advanced to play Kimberley in the Kootenay conference final. The Nitehawks are the defending league champions.