The Nelson Junior Leafs took home two back to back wins against the Spokane Braves after winning Saturday night’s at home game 4-2.
The weekend win came after a Friday night victory in Spokane where the Leafs finished 8-6.
“[Friday night] I thought there were a lot of lucky bounces on their part,” said Jonathon Petrash. “There was a lot of lucky breaks that we didn’t catch but we battled hard and we kept going and we won the game and we never quit and that’s a good thing for our team coming together and coming from behind together.”
Neither the Leafs nor the Braves were able to get a point in the first period but in the second rookie Nik Newman scored his first of three goals in the Saturday game.
“Obviously playing at home makes a big difference with the crowd and everything behind you,” he said. “We played way more as a team unit today, just with making the breakouts and everyone was playing their part. “
Petrash said that even though there were no goals scored in the first period he felt the Leafs out played the Braves.
“I thought we played really well. The first period was a solid period it was unfortunately scoreless but I thought we out played them a lot,” said Petrash. “Second period we kind of took it off a little bit and then by the time the third period came we all kind of came together and realizing let’s skate a little bit harder and shooting the puck and by the end of the third we won the game and played a solid game overall.”
Even though playing back to back games against a team like the Braves could have an advantage, Petrash said it’s important to come at each game with a fresh approach.
“We definitely know what to expect but again every game is a new game and you’ve just got to take it for what it is and play hard. It’s a battle so you can’t take them lightly. They’re still a pretty good team and we’ve got to play our game and do what we’ve got to do,” said Petrash.
Both Newman and Petrash said that one of the challenges of playing a team like Spokane is that they’re an aggressive team.
“They play really aggressive they’re not really passive,” said Newman. “They pinch a lot on the boards. They have a couple pretty good players that we’ve got to look out for and match against a bit, but other than that, they’re not that physical but they just don’t give us very much time and space.”
The Leafs head to Grand Forks on December 1 to play the Border Bruins.