The Castlegar Rebels pulled ahead 3 – 2 in their second-round playoff series, beating the Beaver Valley Nitehawks 2 – 1 on Sunday, Mar. 10 in Castlegar.
Travis Wellman put up the first goal of the game at 7:48 on a swift breakaway. Nitehawks starter Jarrod Schamerhorn had no chance as Wellman came in virtually untouched and roofed it. Bryan Lubin and JR Krolik assisted on the play up ice.
The Rebels added a second at 5:14 of the second period when Lubin fed Braydon Horcoff. Horcoff had been in the box just moments earlier for high-sticking but made no mistake on a breakaway of his own. Darren Medeiros got the second assist on the play.
Near the half-way mark of the third, Nitehawks rookie forward Dan Holland got his team on the board but a tripping penalty on Fraser Stang took some sting out of the momentum Beaver Valley was building.
Schamerhorn was pulled for the extra attacker with time winding down but the Rebels held on for the win.
Game six goes tomorrow in Fruitvale at 7:30 p.m. The series will shift back to Castlegar Wednesday, Mar. 13 at 7:30 if necessary.
The winner of this series will go on to face either the Golden Rockets or Fernie Ghostriders in the Neil Murdoch Conference final beginning Mar. 15.
