Postgame: Rebels - 3 Nitehawks - 4 (OT)

Welcome to February!! Its the last month of the KIJHL regular season and Beaver Valley kicks it off with a visit from their nemesis, Castlegar Rebels, and a chance at clinching the Neil Murdoch Division title for the first time since 2006!

Game 7 of the season series was nothing short of heart-stopping! It takes all I have to NOT just jump to the juicy details that brought this game to a soul churning climax. Instead, I will muddle through as best I can without getting too far ahead of myself. :)

Once again, BV lunges out to an early lead that has been something of a hallmark for them as of late. Justin Niminiken put home a Mason Spear offering :54 seconds into the game to give BV that customary early lead. Nitehawks have scored first in 11 of their last 12, with 5 of those within the first 1:30 of the game(only happened 2 other times all season). Interestingly, it was Niminiken that scored the opening goal in the LAST game vs the Rebels as well, also in the first minute(:56). BV went on to win that one 7-3. A mysterious bench minor for the Nitehawks would materialize less than 2 mins later and Castlegar made no mistake about making it count. Riley Henderson collected the garbage lying in the crease and tied the game 4 mins in. Two more BV penalties and a Rebel 4 min high-stick got us through the rest of the period with both team knotted at 1.

The first half of the second was uneventful with both team playing with emotion considering what was at stake. Dallas Calvin broke the back and forth action with an unassisted wrister on the power play over a cowering Beauchamp at 11:49 to give the Nitehawks their 2nd lead of the night. Craig Martin (The Phenom) added some insurance 3 minutes later and the crowd is jubilant! More penalties, and once again Castlegar make good on it with Scott Morisseau pulling the Rebels to within 1 after 40 minutes.

With a 3-2 lead starting the 3rd, Beaver Valley came out with a purpose. Coining a Bieksa phrase "Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!". Thats what the Nitehawks sent towards the Rebel goal, but the CG defense blocked a boat-load of them and more. Furious action at both ends with both goalies making fabulous stops. Fraser Stang and Cody Disher locked horns in a decent battle with Stang coming out on top in my books. Disher was probably trying to pull another player with him as he was already slated to sit for roughing prior to the fight, ref saw through it and BV got the pp. In the last minute of the game, Castlegar did, once again, what they have done in the 2 of the last 3 games between these two, they scored in the last minute of play to tie it. This time it was Anthony Delong with the bank-shot off Vlanich from behind the net with :36 left. Both of those previous games ended with OT goals by CG.

Five minutes of 4-on-4 OT would solve nothing so off to 5 minutes of 3-on-3. Visions of OT's past vs CG screamed through my head as I watched Rebel after Rebel after Rebel find themselves wide open moving in on Vlanich only to have him turn them aside time and again! FINALLY, at 1:34 of the 2nd OT, fate found the "Spark Plug" Christian Johnson alone with the puck facing off with Beauchamp and, unlike the aforementioned failed attempts by CG, he made NO mistake with the Rebel minder flopping like a fish and found the back of the net to send the barn into an unbelievable uproar.

Game Stars:

BV - Mike Vlanich - rightfully so as he made some unbelievable saves in OT!!
BV - Ryan Edwards 1A
BV - Christian Johnson 1G

This was a hard fought win for BV and although with the single point to CG that didnt allow the clinch tonight, they need only to acquire 1 more point over the last 5 games, or have the Rebels drop a point, to clinch the division AND the conference. Kamloops lost tonight in OT as well, so BV now only needs 5 points or have Kamloops drop 5 to claim their first League title since 2004.

I overheard some CG fans following the game saying that the Rebels "outplayed" the Nitehawks. Well, lets address that shall we?

Outhit - Yes, I think Castlegar was more physical and surely won the hit count.
Outshot - On paper? Yes. BV put more rubber towards the Rebel net, but most were blocked.
Outplayed - No, but then neither did BV outplay CG. It was a close game that could have gone either way. Puck control favored BV as they are more methodical, while CG attacks mercilessly with or without the puck.

A little bit on the officiating. Early on I was mentally preparing to explode on the refs here as the stuff they were NOT calling specifically on Castlegar was ridiculous. But as the game progressed, things balanced out as he allowed some blatant infractions to slide in favor of BV as well. This of course incensed the Rebels crowd sitting down in front of me. Seeing that the ref was indeed evening things out, I changed my perspective on him and allowed him to escape the wrath.