The Nelson Leafs had every excuse to fold Friday night.
They were playing their first game since losing their head coach, their offence was snake bitten and the roster was so thin that two defencemen had to play as forwards.
It was telling then that even though they had just lost their fourth straight game, Leafs captain Leighton Partington looked as though his side had won.
“I was super proud of them tonight. I thought we had a pretty good game. All week in practice, guys are working hard, guys are buying in again. So it's exciting.”
Hunter Hansen scored as the Beaver Valley Nitehawks beat the Leafs 4-3 in overtime on Friday. Hansen had space playing 3-on-3 as he whipped a shot that beat Leafs goaltender Jacob Armstrong.
The Leafs fired head coach Briar McNaney on Dec. 2 and promoted Gianni Mangone from assistant to interim head coach. In the days that followed, Mangone said he tried to re-introduce some much-needed fun back into the practices.
"This week was a bit of, let's get back to how we want to have things go from now on. We changed some system stuff. We worked on almost everything, but there was always an aspect of, let's enjoy it. Keep it light. I think today it showed. They came out quite well.”
Team president Corey Viala said he did not yet have an update on who the bench boss would be for the remainder of the season, but Mangone hopes it will be him. The 31-year-old spent his junior career in the Alberta Junior Hockey League before moving south to play at American colleges followed by two seasons overseas in France and Hungary.
He was an assistant coach with the Creston Valley Thunder Cats for two seasons before joining Nelson for the current campaign. Now he's been thrust into a job he hopes to keep, but added his focus right now is on resetting the season in a positive way for his players.
“I got nothing to lose, right? I'm here to make this team get better, both on the ice, off the ice, individually, and then go into playoffs hot and ready to go make a long run. Whatever happens, happens. It's out of my control. I'm not worried about it. I'm more worried about the kids in that room.”
Nelson appears to have lost several players with no health scratches to rely on. Forwards Xaiden Bignell, Avery Hewson and Talin McLeod are no longer with the team. Goaltender Ryder Gregga remains away from the Leafs with an injury, and forward Caden Still is also injured. Two defencemen, Dawson Davis and Trey Schofield, were forced to play as fourth-line forwards.
But Partington said there was a visible difference in how his teammates approached practice this week. They are on a losing streak, but some of the stress has lifted.
"Guys are coming to the rink with smiles on their faces again."
Armstrong made 27 saves, Carsyn Crawford scored twice and Quinn Ramsay added a single for the Leafs (12-11-1).
Brady Magarrell scored a short-handed goal, while Jonas Bourchier and Simon Mendiola also scored for the Nitehawks (16-6-2). Goaltender Landan Uzeloc finished with 26 saves.
The Leafs were on a power play in the first period when the Nitehawks cleared the puck back down the ice. Armstrong went behind his net to clear the puck but mishandled it as Magarrell swept in, stole the puck and wrapped it into the empty net.
Beaver Valley scored again thanks to a fortuitous bounce. Both teams were fighting for the puck along the Nitehawks’ blueline when it was swatted off the boards and perfectly into centre ice to a waiting Bourchier. He took the zone on a breakaway, faked Armstrong and fired into the bottom right corner for a 2-0 lead.
The Nitehawks scored their third goal three minutes into the second period. The visitors were on a power play when Mendiola’s shot from the point beat Armstrong.
But the rest of the period belonged to Nelson, which got on the scoreboard a minute later when a Ramsay shot from an awkward angle somehow beat Uzeloc.
Both teams were playing 4-on-4 when Nelson closed the deficit to one. A big shot by Ramsay rebounded off Uzeloc to Crawford, who was quick with his return fire for the goal.
The Leafs tied the game on a power play with 2:24 left in the period. Connor Hovelkamp dished to Crawford who again snapped a fast shot that Uzeloc had no hope of saving.
“Being down 3-0 to the second best team in the league and clawing back, that's takes effort and that takes hard work," said Partington.
The game tightened up in the third, although it didn’t lack for quality chances. The best of the period belonged to the Nitehawks, who had a breakaway opportunity late in the period that was stopped by Armstrong’s pad before the contest moved into overtime.
“They battled back, they never quit," said Mangone. "They worked hard the entire time. That's kind of the game plan we had going in. It's just compete, non-stop work ethic and enjoy it.”
Leaflets: Nelson next hosts the Princeton Posse on Saturday. … Mangone led the team without any assistant coaches of his own Friday.
