The Castlegar Rebels entertained their close rivals from Beaver Valley in a Friday night KIJHL tilt, skating away with a 4-2 win and setting the stage for a Saturday trip to Fruitvale for a rematch. Game time - 7:30 p.m.
The game was scoreless until just before the first intermission and a quick pair of goals by the Rebels: Quinn Klimchuk (unassisted) with 1:57 to go before the buzzer, then 18 seconds later Stuart Walton (Jeremy McGregor and Brenden Heinrich) with a high shot over the shoulder of net minder Zach Perehudoff.
Taylor Stafford got his NiteHawks squad the lift they were looking for to start the second frame, helped out by teammate Ryan Edwards, only to see the two-goal bulge restored by Stuart Walton, again, this time assisted by Dylan Bowerman, and Travis Wellman who would close out the scoring with about two minutes to go in the second. Wellman's goal came on the power play and was assisted by Aaron Petten and Walton.
Nick Perez (Connor Brown-Maloski and Dan Holland) found his range with a third period marker to bring his group within a pair, but that's as close as they'd get.
Shots on goal were even at 30 apiece. The visitors went 0 for 6 with the man advantage while the hosts were 1 for 4.
Jordan Gluck was credited with the win for Castlegar while Beaver Valley's Zach Perehudoff absorbed the loss.