Connor Stojan backstopped the Beaver Valley Nitehawks to a jaw-dropping 10-1 victory over the Kimberley Dynamiters in his 100th KIJHL game on Friday, Nov. 8 at the Hawks Nest.
However, after the dominant win over their Kootenay Conference rival, the Nitehawks were grounded by the Osoyoos Coyotes goalie Hunter Arnsten who stopped 47 shots in a 4-2 Coyotes win on Saturday.
Coyotes forward Mason Rudolph scored the game winner 11:22 into the third period, with his sixth of the season on the power play to give Osoyoos a 3-2 lead.
With the win, the Coyotes break a three-game losing streak and improve to 7-8-1-0, following a 3-2 loss to the Castlegar Rebels on Friday.
After a scoreless first period, careless penalties took their toll on the Nitehawks as the Coyotes jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Russell Weatherford scored on a power-play 47 seconds into the middle frame, and Austin Cooper netted his fifth of the season at 9:34.
The Nitehawks couldn't take advantage of their own power-play opportunities and were stymied by Arnsten, as B.V. outshot Osoyoos 22-8 in the second period.
However, the Nitehawks scored two shorthanded goals within 43 seconds to tie the game at two with seven minutes to play in the middle frame. Owen Dickson scored his fifth of the campaign on a set up from Boris Hristov to cut the lead to one, and Ollie Clement his eighth goal to even it up, but Arnsten shut the door in the third.
Osoyoos forward Cooper scored his second of the night into an empty net for the 4-2 final.
Beaver Valley outshot Osoyoos 49-32, going 0-for-5 on the power play, and 4-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Nitehawks fans were poised for a tightly contested match up versus rival Dynamiters Friday night, after B.V. lost 5-2 in Kimberley on Oct. 12.
Nitehawks rookie forward and Drayton Valley product Marcus Cyr opened the scoring 3:52 into the first period, and Jonas Bourchier and Hunter Hansen made it 3-1 B.V. after one.
Shorthanded goals from Hristov and Dickson, and Brady Magarrell's first of two on the night put the home team up 6-1 after two.
Beau Manegre, Magarrell, Joel Smyth, and Conner Martel completed the scoring for the Nitehawks to make the final 10-1.
The Nitehawks outshot Kimberley 45-34, with B.V. scoring once on six power plays, and going 6-for-7 on the penalty kill, while scoring two shorthanded goals.
In his 100th match, the 20-year-old Stojan couldn't have asked for a more satisfying win over such a longstanding rival as the Dynamiters, who beat the Nitehawks and Stojan in the 2023 Kootenay Conference Final. The four-year Nitehawk veteran earned his 63rd win to go with 25 losses and 12 overtime losses, while earning eight shutouts.
This season, the Grand Prairie product boasts an 8-3-0-1 record with one shut out, a 2.12 GAA, and a league leading .942 SVP.
Kimberley also lost 7-6 to the Nelson Leafs in overtime on Saturday, but still hold a comfortable lead in the Mountain division with 28 points and a 13-3-2-0 record. The Nitehawks hold down first place in the Neil Murdoch Division with 23 points and a 11-4-1-0 record.
Beaver Valley is on the road this weekend with a stop in Golden to play the Rockets on Friday, Nov. 15, followed up by a Saturday night tilt in Columbia Valley against the Rockies.
