The Beaver Valley Nitehawks are moving on in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs, while the Castlegar Rebels are now on the brink of elimination after Tuesday night’s action.
Beaver Valley completed a four-game sweep of the Spokane Braves with a 5-1 win, while the Grand Forks Border Bruins defeated the Rebels 4-1 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their series.
For the Nitehawks, Maddox Gandha scored the game-winner, his fourth goal of the playoffs, as Beaver Valley closed out the series. Gandha now leads the KIJHL playoffs with three game-winning goals.
Brady Magarrell continued his strong postseason with two goals and an assist, bringing his playoff total to eight goals. Goaltender Karsten Hugenholtz turned aside 26 shots in the victory.
Spokane’s lone goal came from Ben Race at 7:12 of the second period. Braves goalie Jaiden Jakubowski stopped 35 shots.
With the win, Beaver Valley advances to the next round after completing the 4-0 series sweep.
Meanwhile in Castlegar, the Rebels fell 4-1 to the visiting Grand Forks Border Bruins and now trail their series three games to none.
Ashton Schram scored twice for Grand Forks, including an empty-net goal late in the second period. Thomas Samborski made 18 saves for the Border Bruins.
Rylan Davis scored the Rebels’ only goal at 10:40 of the second period. Castlegar goaltender Evan Leggett made 31 saves in the loss.
The Rebels will now need four straight wins to keep their playoff hopes alive as the series shifts to Game 4.
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