The Castlegar Rebels had possibly their best weekend of the season so far. The Rebs knocked off first place Beaver Valley 6-5 at home Saturday, and smoked Spokane 5-1 on the road Sunday.
Friday's game at the Castlegar Community Complex was hard-fought, hard hitting affair in front of a near-capacity crowd.
The visitors got on the scoreboard first with a power play goal from Derek Lashuk at 4:06 of the first period. Castlegar responded with two quick goals before the end of the first period. Stuart Walton scored first with a power play marker at 2:21 assisted by Diego Bartlett and Erik Alden. Arthur Andrews then scored at 1:17 with a helper from Scott Morisseau.
Another goal from Andrews and a marker from Kody Disher put the Rebels up comfortably at 4-1 midway through the second stanza.
But Beaver Valley wasn't done. A goaltending switch saw Mike Vlanich replace Zach Perehudoff between the pipes. The switch looked to reignite the Nitehawks and they scored the next two goals with Chris Derochie and Dallas Calvin bring BV to within one at 4-3.
A shorthanded marker at 3:15 of the second from Anthony Delong gave the Rebs some breathing room heading into the third period.
Chris Derochie's second goal of the game pulled the 'hawks to within one yet again at 5-4. Anthony Delong scored at 10:24 of the third to put the Rebels up 6-4. Dallas Calvin would bring BV to within one with 1:42 left in the game, but Castlegar held on for the 6-5 win.
On Sunday, the Rebels headed down to Washington State to take on the Spokane Braves. Castlegar dominated the game, outshooting their American foes 50-31 and winning the game 5-1. Scoring for Castlegar were Delong with a pair, Bryce Eviston, Disher, and Tyler Jones.
The four point weekend puts Castlegar one point behind Nelson for second place in the Neil Murdoch division (with three games in hand) and two points behind first place Beaver Valley.