The Beaver Valley Nitehawks battled the Wainwright Bisons to a 3-3 draw in its opening game of the Keystone Cup in Arborg, Man.
Beaver Valley held one-goal leads twice in the game but the Alberta-champion Wainwright squad scored with seven minutes to play to knot the game.
There was no overtime played in round robin games.
Beaver Valley held the edge in shots outshooting the Bisons 47-30.
Blake Sidoni scored on the power play to knot the game at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Jaxen Gemmel made it 2-1 for the Hawks with less than five minutes to play in the middle frame. But the Bisons answered with a late goal by beating Hawks goalie Tallon Kramer with two seconds left in the period.
Beaver Valley outshot Wainwright 15-9 in the final frame and took a 3-2 lead on Kyle Hope’s goal at 14:37 of the period.
It stayed that way for seven minutes before Zach MacKay potted the game-tying goal for the Bisons.
In other action on Day 1 of the Keystone Cup, the host Arborg Ice Dawgs downed the Manitoba-champion Peguis Juniors 7-2 and Saskatchewan’s Extreme Hockey Regina Capitals beat the Nipigon Elks of Northern Ontario 6-1.
The Nitehawks are back on the ice twice on Friday against Arborg in the morning and Nipigon in the evening.
