In a series as wild as this one, you knew Game Six between the Nelson Junior Leafs and the Beaver Valley Nitehawks was going to provide plenty of drama. It didn’t disappoint.
In yet another thrilling night at the Nelson and District Community Complex, the Leafs staged a crowd pleasing third period comeback to win 5-4 and force a Game Seven.
“There was a lot of emotion involved in it,” said a spent Leafs coach Chris Shaw after the game. “It was one of those nights where the stars aligned for us to win, but the guys came out to play. I thought that was the best effort we’ve had all year as far facing adversity and rising above it.”
Heading into Game Six down three games to two, if the Leafs were to survive another day in the 2010-11 season they knew they would have to do it without sniper Dustin Johnson. The 20-year-old late addition compiled eight points in the first five games, but a game misconduct late in Game Five had him watching helplessly from the stands.
For the first 15 minutes of the game, the Leafs showed no sign of a weakened attack. With role players thrust into the spotlight, the locals dominated play.
Just over 12 minutes into the opening frame, rookie Connor Enright scored his first goal of the playoffs after a puck that was lobbed from the blueline landed in the slot. The North Vancouver native made no mistake pounding one in past Nitehawks starter Mike Vlanich.
Two minutes later Gavin Currie and Patrick Martens raced down the ice on a two-on-one. Currie made a perfect pass to Martens who made good on the saucer to make it a 2-0 game.
The Nitehawks would get one back before the period ended when d-man Arie Postmus blasted a shot from the point through traffic that Leafs starter Marcus Beesley had no chance of stopping.
Forty seconds into the second period, Beaver Valley knotted the score at twos when Nelson Minor Hockey grad Ryon Sookro found the puck in a scramble in front of Beesley and buried the opportunity. Then midway through the period the Nitehawks took the lead when another point shot, this time from Derek Lashuk, managed to find its way through the crowd and through the blue ice.
After forty minutes the Leafs held the edge in play, outshooting Beaver Valley 22-18, but trailed where it counts most.
The third period opened with the Leafs shorthanded with Tyler Parfeniuk in the box for an infraction late in the second. Just under a minute into the period Postmus fired a low shot that managed to trick Beesley and the Nitehawks lead 4-2.
Unfazed by the prospect of a season running out on them, twenty seconds later big Cody Abbey worked it out of the corner and with Vlanich out of position, Colton Schell had the gift of a wide open net. The team’s regular season leading scorer was money and cut the lead to 4-3.
For the next 10 minutes it seemed like the Leafs were lacking the big play potential of Johnson. With the Nitehawks seemingly content to simply hold on and advance to the next round against the Castlegar Rebels, the Leafs had a difficult time generating any substantial scoring chances.
With five minutes left to play Currie sprang Dallon Stoddart on a breakaway and with the crowd on its feet, Vlanich came up with a big glove save. But when the puck dropped in the Nitehawks zone after the breakaway, the Leafs pressed hard and in a wild goalmouth scramble E.J. Moir jammed the puck home to tie the score.
With newfound energy the Leafs began to dominate play. With just over two minutes left in the third, Colton Malmsten found himself all alone behind the net with the puck. The Kelowna native then converted a perfect pass to Cameron Dobransky in the slot who brought the NDCC to a roar.
“That was amazing… I couldn’t believe it went in at first,” Dobransky told local media after the game. “Malmsten was right behind the net, we made eye contact, he made a great feed out in front and I am pretty sure I had my eyes closed when I took the shot. But it went it and that’s the main thing. Biggest high of my life right now.”
The Leafs hung on for the win to force a Game Seven in Fruitvale Wednesday night.
“We just had a positive attitude in the room,” Dobransky said of the feeling amongst his mates after the second period. “Nobody wanted to go home early, we want to be here ‘til late March and go all the way. That’s what picked us up.”
Beaver Valley coach Terry Jones was not as upbeat.
“I expected it to be tough… I didn’t know it would go seven, but it’s never easy,” the veteran Nitehawks coach said of a series that has featured lopsided wins and everything in between. “I didn’t know we were going to play so poorly in this building. We’ve played so poorly in this building I’m happy to not be here again and tonight was another example.”
Though the Nitehawks have owned Nelson in their own arena, Jones says Game Seven is a whole new story.
“The teams that have come out and skated have won each game,” Jones told the Star. “Tomorrow [Wednesday] is going to be the hardest game, it’s Game Seven and anything can happen. If we think just because we are playing at home we’re going to win, well we won’t. We have to regroup and get back to the basics of how we play.”
On the other end of the NDCC hallway, Shaw was already thinking of the next task.
“We have to find a way to win in Beaver Valley,” the Nelson coach said. “It’s been our biggest test in the Murdoch Division, to win in those rinks. They play a different style in their rink. They are a big team and they keep it simple. We’re a faster hockey club than they are and we are able to use our speed a lot better at home.
“It’s our fourth game in the last week in their rink, we should know what to do by now to get a victory.”
The winner of Game Seven goes onto the Neil Murdoch Division final against the Rebels starting Friday night in Castlegar.