The Beaver Valley Nitehawks were just 18 seconds away from a sweep of its three-game road trip on the weekend.
The Nitehawks earned 5-of-6 points on the road defeating the Kamloops Storm 5-3 on Friday, 100 Mile House Wranglers 4-3 on Saturday, before falling 4-3 in a shootout versus the Chase Heat on Sunday.
The Nitehawks dominated Chase through two periods outshooting the home team 40-17, but were locked in a 2-2 draw heading to the final frame on goals from Ollie Clement and Joel Smyth.
Hawks forward Nathan Dominici broke the tie with 2:38 left in regulation in a tight checking third period, that almost served as the game winner.
However, a checking from behind penalty in the final 94 seconds gave the Heat a power play, and Chase’s Aiden Brown tied the game with 18 seconds left on the clock to force the 4-on-4 overtime.
The five-minute overtime solved nothing, and in the shootout, Heat goalie Meyer Gaume continued his stellar play and stoned all three B.V. shooters, while Brown beat B.V. goalie Nathan Presley for the win.
Beaver Valley outshot Chase 46-30 and went 0-for-6 on the power play, while Chase scored twice on five chances.
In Friday’s match versus Kamloops, the Nitehawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the strength of a hat trick from Dominici and a goal from Gavin Tritt.
Kamloops made it 4-1, but Kaleb Brown restored the four goal lead with 1:09 left in the middle frame.
The Storm scored two more in the third for the 5-3 final and outshot B.V. 31-22.
On Saturday against the Wranglers, Clement scored the game winner late in the third, as the Nitehawks came back from a 2-0 and 3-2 deficit for a 4-3 victory.
Down 2-0, Nitehawks forward Austin McLean scored his first of the season at 8:58, and less than a minute later Joel Smyth tied it at two.
The home team went up 3-2 late in the second period, but Dominici tied the game with a shorthanded goal at the 4:35 mark, and Clement tallied the game winner on a setup from Cooper Ross and Gabriel Chanut with 3:07 to play.
The Nitehawks outshot the Wranglers 51-22. With the five point weekend, the 4-2-0-1 Nitehawks move into a tie for first place in the Neil Murdoch Division with the 4-2-1-0 Grand Forks Border Bruins each with nine points.
Beaver Valley is on the road again this weekend with two key division games versus the Border Bruins in Grand Forks on Friday, and the Leafs in Nelson on Saturday with the puck drop at 7 p.m.
KIJHL Notes: Nitehawks forward Nathan Dominici was named the KIJHL’s Star Forward of the Week.
The Trail product scored five goals and added three assists on its three-game road trip on the weekend. Dominici leads the Nitehawks in scoring with five goals and nine points in seven games.
Hunter Harwood of the Osoyoos Coyotes captured the defenseman nod and North Okanagan Knights goalie Austin Seibel the star goaltender.