Leafs exact some revenge on Hawks; Martens, Walton power host club to 5-3 victory
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Daily Sports
The Nelson Leafs gained some breathing room in the race for the Murdoch penthouse while exacting some revenge on a divisional rival at the same time.
Patrick Martens scored twice and Andrew Walton rebounded from a less than stellar performance previously against Beaver Valley to power the Leafs to a 5-3 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League victory over the Nitehawks Tuesday night at the NDCC Arena.
“This is good win against one of the top teams (in the league),” Nelson head coach Frank Maida said after the game.
“The boys played well, worked hard and stuck to the game plan.”
The win increases Nelson lead to five points in Murdoch Division standings. Beaver Valley, however, has played three fewer games.
Martens scored twice, his eighth and ninth goals in the last three games, to spark the offence for Nelson.Teammate Matthew Naka added a single along with Max Mois and James Sorriey.
“The big difference is we really came to play and played in our systems,” Maida explained. “Our guys stuck to it and didn’t try to do things on their own.”
Maida also had a bounce back game from his number one goalie.
Walton was not his usual self the last time the two teams met, allowing a few soft goals as Beaver Valley rallied from a 3-0 deficit — with the winning marker coming on a shot from rookie sniper Craig Martin that handcuffed the big fella.
“Andrew was solid in goal for us tonight,” said Maida after watching his goalie earn first-star honours by turning aside 31 shots. “I know after the first meeting he wasn’t too happy with his play and wanted to go out and play them the next day.”
A key to Tuesday’s win was the ability for Nelson to keep Beaver Valley’s big line of
Ryan Edwards, Craig Martin and Chris Derochie silent for most of the night.
All the trio, blitzing Nelson for nine points during the first meeting, could muster were single points from both Edwards and Martin.
Tyler Collins scored twice and Arie Postmus scored once for Beaver Valley, out shooting the Leafs 34-26.
Meanwhile, Nelson’s own Three-headed monster, Martens, Naka and Colton Schell, finished with seven points.
The Leafs play host to two more home games this weekend, hosting Columbia Valley Rockies Saturday, 7 p.m., and Summerland Steam Sunday, 2 p.m. Beaver Valley hosts Summerland Saturday, 7:30 p.m., and Spokane Braves Sunday, 1 p.m.
BLUELINES: Patrick Martens finished the game with three points to take over top spot in KIJHL scoring with 29 points, two in front of Beaver Valley’s Ryan Edwards and four ahead of Craig Martin. The first goal by Martens, a power play marker, came with one second remaining in the second period and gave Nelson a 3-2 advantage heading into the third. . . . Beaver Valley scored twice on the power play. . . .Nelson played the game without two defenceman as Walker Sidoni and Riley Henderson both missed the game due to injury. Affliate player Andrew Miller was back in the lineup for Nelson to help on the defence.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
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