It’s been a good but slow start to the opening season for the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
On Friday the Hawks played their home opener, just their second game in the first two weeks of the KIJHL season, with a strong 5-1 victory over the Golden Rockets, a team that played their sixth game this weekend.
The win was highlighted by recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation prior to the puck drop.
After a scoreless first period, Kaleb Percival scored his first of the campaign with assists to Ollie Clement and Roan Crowe 3:45 into the middle frame.
Cade Reder notched his first goal of the season which turned out to be the game winner midway through the second on a nice set up from Hunter Hansen and Clement.
Home grown product Connor Drake made it 3-0, beating goalie Levi Hall with just 34 seconds left in the middle frame as the Nitehawks outshot the Rockets 16-8 in the period.
Golden broke Nitehawks’ goalie Connor Stojan’s shutout bid when Prezton Stewart finished a pass from Austin Angus to cut the lead to 3-1 to open the final frame.
But Rossland product Clement picked up his third point of the night and first goal of the season at at 8:12 to make it 4-1. Beau Manegre closed out the scoring on an unassisted effort just over a minute later.
The Nitehawks outshot the Rockets 40-23 and went 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the PK.
Beaver Valley is back in action on Friday, Oct. 6 in Nelson with a tilt against the 2-1-0-0 Leafs, and will visit Castlegar on Tuesday for a game against the 3-1-0-0 Rebels with the puck drop at 7 p.m.