Nitehawks/Ghostriders Dec 2nd and 3rd Home and Home

Beaver Valley and Fernie opened the month of December with a quick home-and-home series that had pretty much everything.

Fridays game was of the back and forth type that saw Fernie jump out to an early lead :31 seconds in on a goal by Derek Georgopoulos. The score would remain 1-0 until Tyler Collins nets a ppg to tie it with just under 5 mins left in period 1. Unfortunately, Georgopoulos would get a ppg of his own and 2nd of the period just 2 mins later to give Fernie the 2-1 lead into the intermission.

Alex Milhouse gets the Riders 3rd goal 3 mins into the 2nd on another powerplay and it stayed that way till late when Ryan Edwards scores with 1:14 left to once again pull BV within 1 at the break.

The third period was up and down, full of emotion. Dallas Calvin, with his 3rd point of the night, scores to tie the game at 7:03 and give the Nitehawks hope for a victory.  That hope is quickly dashed as just past the halfway mark, Zach Traverse and Milhouse score :53 seconds apart to retake Fernies 2 goal lead. Hopes were once again re-kindled :14 seconds after that as 'Mr.Reliable' Ryan Edwards scores his second and most importantly, pulls BV to within 1 with 8 mins to go. As luck would have it, Ty Morton would take a cross-check penalty at 14:19 and the Nitehawks wasted no time tying it up on Collins 2nd goal taking just :23 seconds to do so. Despite attempts at both ends, it was off to OT we go!

The first OT of 4-on-4 was undecided and so on to double-OT and a wide open 3-on-3. And from stories told, wide open is just what happened as just :51 seconds in, Chris Derochie split the....everyone?....and went roof-daddy on Fernie goalie Chris Solecki to win a thriller 6-5!

Game Stars:

BV - Chris Derochie 1G, 2A - OT GWG
FG - Alex Milhouse 2G
FG - Derek Georgeopoulos 2G


On saturday Dec, 3 in the backhalf of the home-and-home, Fernie was here in BV. Now THIS game I got to see and partly wished for a similar game as fridays, but alas, it was a wash. Both teams looked tired out of the gate with BV getting a slight edge through most of the period. Christian Johnson opened the scoring (first time since Nov 12 that BV scored first) at 13:16 and then added a goal on the power play with :35 left in the first to stake the Nitehawks to a 2-0 lead after 20.

The 2nd period started just like the 1st ended, with a goal by Johnson. Less than 2 mins in on the power play and BV has a commanding 3 goal lead on the natural hat-trick by Christian Johnson. Quite a big change from the night before, but as the game went on, the Hawks started to get their legs back and skate while Fernie still seemed sluggish. Andrew White got the Riders on the board at 5:31 but it was absolutely the only bit of hard offence that Fernie could create. The first of 3 fights featured Fraser Stang and Dylan Robertson in a tilt that seemed even with Robertson getting the takedown. BV extended their lead at 8:30 on a snipe by Dallas Calvin. Justin Niminiken puts the period on ice with a shorthanded breakaway beauty as the Nitehawks take a 5-1 lead into the 3rd.

Fight #2 starts unofficially at the end of the 2nd, but officially gets underway at :01 of period 3. Brantley Schapansky took on Evan Burgess and gets the take-down as well as the decision in my eyes. A hit in the Riders zone got tempers hot and Tyler Collins took it into his own hands, in the form of Zach Traverse, and results in fight #3. Now THAT was a fight!! Both players swinging wildly which caused them both to loss their helmets. Collins got the take down and, once again, gets my nod for the decision(biased much?). Things remain back and forth-ish( I say ish as BV had the majority of chances and controlled the puck very well while Fernie would just dump-chase-lose the puck and back out it would go) until the 11 min mark when guess who.... ya him..... Christian Johnson scores...AGAIN!! Yes, 4 goals tonight for Johnson and that puts the home team up by 5, and the game firmly out of Fernies reach. Just to make sure, or maybe to rub a little salt into the gaping wound, Jacob Boyczuk added another with just under 2 mins remaining.

I caught up with Fernie head coach, Will Verner, and asked him about his thoughts on the game. "They(BV) are a good team and were relentless on the puck. They finished their checks and played tough. They played like we wanted to play."

Game Stars:

BV - Christian Johnson 4G
BV - Josh Peters 1A
BV - Brantley Schapansky 1A

The 2 hard fought wins over Fernie leapfrogged them into 2nd in the league and only 3 pts behind leading Kamloops while holding 2 games in hand. They also served to extend the win streak which currently sits at 9 games.....and counting! Keep up the good work boys!!


In the Community

In the last post, I had mentioned that select Nitehawks would be volunteering at the Breakfast with Santa. In fact, the entire team was there to help out!! It was a great turnout and the place was packed solid the entire time. The boys did a great job and when it was all said and done, got the chance to sit down and enjoy a breakfast of their own.