Leafs ride stellar play of Rebel netminder Patrick Zubick to even Murdoch Final against BV Hawks
By Bruce Fuhr
It’s ironic how sometimes in the sport of hockey your biggest rival can become your greatest ally.
Patrick Zubick, of Castlegar Rebels fame, stopped all 21 shots to backstop the Nelson Leafs to a 1-0 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoff victory over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks Saturday night at the NDCC Arena.
The victory evens the best-of-seven Murdoch Division series at 1-1.
Games three and four are Monday and Tuesday in Fruitvale.
“It’s unfortunate that both of our goalies are hurt but Patrick (Zubick) has come in here and played just excellent for us,” Leaf captain Darnel St. Pierre said after the narrow win.
Nelson got all the goals Zubick would need when leading scorer Jamie Vlanich scored on a Leaf power play 15 minutes into the game.
Vlanich, playing his second game of the playoffs after sitting out the entire Murdoch Division semi final against Spokane, jumped on a loose puck in the Hawks goal crease after teammate Travis Wellman rattle a shot off the post.
The home side then rode the solid netminding of Zubick, who is playing for Nelson on an emergency basis after both regular goalies, Adam Maida and Brad Rebagliati, were lost to the Leafs due to injury, to even the series in a must-win game.
“Obviously we’d like to win by five goals every game but that’s not going to happen playing a team like BV,” St. Pierre explained.
“This series has the potential of going the distance and there’s going to be a lot of one goal games.”
Despite getting the split, and home-ice advantage, Hawks coach Terry Jones was not pleased with the performance of his team.
Jones was frustrated with lack of effort shown by the Hawks.
“The way we played tonight I’m not surprised of the score because we didn’t make any effort . . . we were so passive, so uncommitted . . . it was very disappointing,” Jones said.
Jones didn’t sense any overconfidence in the Hawks dressing room before the game after Beaver Valley scored a 4-3 win in Game one Friday, thanks to a late tally by captain Archie McKinnon.
“I didn’t think it was overconfidence. I just think guys were on their own agendas,” Jones fumed. “We had guys taking three-minute shifts and glide around . . .. We’re not going to win many games playing like that.”
Beaver Valley out shot the Leafs 21-14, including a third period where the visitors played most of the game in the Nelson zone.
The series now shifts back to the Hawks Nest, where Beaver Valley finished the season 3-1 against Nelson.
However, the lone home-ice loss in the series against the Leafs came in the final game of the season — a win St. Pierre is hoping can inspire his team to victory again.
“That last game of the (regular) season was one of the biggest wins in my junior hockey league career,” St. Pierre said. “I think all the boys in that (Leaf) dressing room now believe we’re capable of winning in Beaver Valley and there’s no reason we can’t win again.”
MURDOCH NOTES: Again more than 700 fans showed up to see two of the top teams in the KIJHL square off . . . . At the end of the game, Leaf winger Alec Wilkinson skated the length of the ice to retrieve the game puck after the victory. . . . Hawks leading scorers Dallas Calvin and Riley Brant had their respective scoring streaks snapped at four and five games. . . .In the other Kootenay Conference series, Kimberley Dynamiters tied the Eddie Mountain Final at 1-1 with a 4-2 win in Creston. Meanwhile, the Osoyoos Coyotes keep on winning, capturing its sixth straight game to take a 2-0 lead against North Okanagan. In Kamloops, the Storm opened its series against 100 Mile House with an 8-3 win.
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