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Border Bruins beat Nitehawks in epic shootout

Grand Forks vs Beaver Valley game decided after 24 players take aim in shootout
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The Grand Forks Border Bruins defeated the Nitehawks 3-2 in a thrilling shootout on Saturday at the B.V. Arena. Photo: Steve Piccolo

The Grand Forks Border Bruins beat the Beaver Valley Nitehawks 3-2 in a shoot out of epic proportions on Saturday at the Hawks Nest.

The Nitehawks still took 3-of-4 points following a 6-4 win in Grand Forks on Friday. But on Saturday, it took 12 shooters from each team to solve the contest, with B.V. goalie Connor Stojan and Grand Forks’ Zoltan Bencsik going save for save.

Stojan stopped 37 in regulation and was stellar in the five minute overtime, as Grand Forks outshot the Nitehawks, 8-1.

In the shootout, the goalies made six straight stops, until the seventh shooter, Cody Laybolt, scored for the Border Bruins. But Beaver Valley’s seventh shooter Joel Smyth also responded to tie it at 1-1.

The sudden death shootout continued until James Poole beat Stojan, and Bencsik stopped Ollie Clement for the Bruins victory.

With the win, Grand Forks improves to 9-4-1-0 and remains a point ahead of Beaver Valley at 8-3-0-2. The Nelson Leafs are right in the mix, and only a point behind B.V. after shutting out the Castlegar Rebels 5-0 on Saturday.

Grand Forks took a 1-0 first period lead on a power play goal by Tyson Tokarz, but the Nitehawks replied in the second when Timothy Jorsa tallied his first of the season to tie it at 16:37.

Trail product Joel Smyth put the Nitehawks in front 1:40 into the final frame with a power-play goal, but Bruins forward Chad Bates evened it at 2-2 with 13:41 to play.

Both goalies were outstanding in their respective nets, with Grand Forks outshooting Beaver Valley 45-35. The Hawks went 1-for-4 on the power play, and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

On Friday, the Nitehawks stormed back from a 3-0 deficit scoring six times in the final 3o minutes for the victory.

Joel Smyth, Nathan Dominici, and Nathan Simm rallied the Hawks with Simm tying the match three minutes into the third period.

Russell Kosec temporarily put the Bruins back on top, 4-3, but goals from Kaleb Percival, Dominici, and an empty netter from Ethan Smyth sealed the 6-4 victory for the Nitehawks.

B.V. outshot G.F. 40-38 with the Hawks going 2-for-4 on the power play and the Bruins 2-for-7.

The Nitehawks host the Golden Rockets on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. and the Creston Valley Thundercats on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the B.V. Arena.

Read: Nitehawks hold on for big division win over Rebels



Jim Bailey

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