Beitel's OT winner lifts Nelson to lead in Murdoch Semi Final, Braves upset Rebels 2-1
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Leafs are making believers out of the few fans that picked them to win against Beaver Valley in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff pool.
J.J. Beitel’s goal 6:20 into overtime sparked the Leafs 2-1 Murdoch Division Semi Final victory before 550-plus fans Monday night at the NDCC Arena.
The Leafs, losers of seven straight to conclude the regular season, now lead the best-of-seven KIJHL playoff series 2-1 with game four set for Tuesday right back in Nelson.
“Linden (Horswill) came down curled back, made a nice pass I just shot it on net hoping maybe (Connor Gross) Grosser could deflect it,” Beitel said after being mobbed following the OT winner by his Leaf teammates at center ice.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting anything to come of it or the puck to go in.”
Beitel’s shot from the point somehow squeaked through the pads of Hawks netminder Jarrod Schamerhorn, who up until that point in the game had been almost unbeatable between the pipes.
“(Schamerhorn) is a big guy,” Beitel added. “He’s good down low and kicks out those rebounds out front so we’ve got to just keep shooting and maybe something will go in.”
After a scoreless first period Beaver Valley took a 1-0 when Dallas Calvin drilled a cross-ice saucer pass past Nelson goalie Brett Soles.
The goal by the Hawks leading scorer appeared to be all the visitors would need with Schamerhorn in net.
But a smart play by Leaf defenceman Kyler Wilkinson found Colton Schell beside the Beaver Valley net and the Leaf captain buried a high shot past Schamerhorn to tie the game midway through the third period.
“It’s disappointing to lose because we had just some terrific effort from players tonight,” Hawks head coach Terry Jones lamented.
“Unfortunately you can’t take shifts off and that’s what happened (in the overtime).”
Nelson out shot the Hawks in the game 35-22, including an 11-4 margin in the third to make a winner out of Soles.
Special teams took the night off for both teams as Nelson went 0-for-4 on the power play while Beaver Valley was scoreless in three attempts.
“I expected this to be a long series,” Jones said when asked after beating the Leafs the last four games of the regular season would the Hawks in in a walk.
“Especially if we gave them a little bit of light, which we did in that first game (won 6-1 by Nelson).
“I thought we played pretty well tonight but (Nelson) made a great play to tie it up and another great play to score the winner so I give them full marks for the win tonight.”
Start of game delayed
The start of Monday’s game in Nelson was delayed 25 minutes after one of the Hawks players shattered the glass with a puck during warm up.
NDCC rink attendants worked quickly to insert the new glass at the north end of the arena.
Leafs lose Nickel to injury
Nelson forward Greg Nickel was helped from the ice after colliding heavily with the boards while chasing down the puck in the Beaver Valley end.
The Williams Lake native was seen leaving the rink using crutches.
A few of the Hawks, including forward Dan Hollands, also let the ice after blocking shots. But all the Beaver Valley players returned to finish the game.
Braves rally to knock off Rebels in overtime
After out scoring the Spokane Braves 18-1 in the first two games of the Murdoch Semi Final, the Castlegar Rebels offence took the night off.
The result allowed the Braves to steal a 2-1 overtime victory Monday in Spokane to pull to within one game in the best-of-seven series.
Dylan Tappe scored on the power play with 38 seconds remaining in the first overtime period to give the Braves life in the series.
Castlegar entered the game unbeated in 10 games dating back to the regular season.
Game four goes Tuesday in Spokane.
Coleman Macdonald for Spokane and Jamie Vlanich for Castlegar scored in the second period.
Matt Zenzola stopped 50 of 51 shots to register the win in goal.
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