Home
Posted 2010-09-02 by Webmaster. - Nitros kick off exhibition play with a bang
Four Point Weekend
The Kimberley Dynamiters celebrate a goal during Friday night’s 7-4 win over Beaver Valley, as Nitehawk Kris Davis makes his way back to the bench.Dynamiters victimize Neil Murdoch foes with two wins
Photo and article courtesy of Matt Coxford - Bulletin / Townsman Sports
The Kimberley Dynamiters might not be invited back to the Neil Murdoch Division if they keep this up.They won beat the Beaver Valley Nitehawks and Spokane Braves to bring their record (12-11-1-3) north of .500.
“It was a pretty good weekend for us,” said head coach Kevin MacKay.
The Nitros went into Spokane yesterday afternoon and won 4-3, while on Friday they beat Beaver Valley 7-4, thanks to Matt Foster’s hat trick.
Yesterday, goaltender Michael Smith beat his old team, turning aside 39 Braves’ shots for his second win as a Nitro.
Spokane had poured on the pressure early, with Ryan Hadley-Schaal, Patrick Donlan and Dylan Tappe each scoring for a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
“We dug ourselves a bit of a hole in Spokane where we weren’t ready to go in the first period,” said MacKay. “We adjusted, had a good second and third and escaped there with two points.”
Kimberley started its comeback at the game’s midway point when Corey Allen (power play) and Thierry Martine scored 36 seconds apart.
“We struck pretty quick there back-to-back. Once we got the first one, I thought we started taking the momentum away from them,” said MacKay.
Brennan Foreman tied the game on a man advantage at 12:30, while Foster popped in the winner 1:12 later.
Foster, who assisted on the game’s first goal, finished the weekend with five points.
“Once (Foster) gets going, he’s got some good speed and good strength on the puck,” said MacKay. “It’s just a matter of him staying at that level. When he struggles, he plants his feet and he’s not moving that well. In the last couple of games, he’s kept his feet moving and he’s got some jump in the legs.”
Cash Ulrich made 25 saves for Spokane.
It’s the final meeting of the season between the Braves and Dynamiters, with Kimberley having beaten the Neil Murdoch leaders 5-4 at the Civic Centre on Nov. 7.
The Nitros had earned a win on Friday night too, storming out to a 5-0 lead.
The Nitehawks got as close as 6-4 late in the third before Foster deposited his third goal into an empty cage.
“We had an opportunity to tighten up defensively and could have made an easier game of it,” said MacKay. “They pushed back on us pretty good, but I’ve got to give our guys credit. They didn’t fold — they just kept going and got an empty-net goal to put it away.”
J.T. Ward and Brennan Romanovitch each had three assists for the Nitros.
Allen came up with a goal and an assist, while Logan Gutfriend, Martine and Mike Nelson each had goals.
Kimberley’s Tory Caldwell turned aside 16 shots for the win.
Mike Vlanich let in five goals on 11 salvos before giving way to Thomas Talarski, who stopped 17 of 19 shots.
Layne Stopanski scored twice for Beaver Valley, who also got goals from Zak Majkowski and Tyler Collins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Official Coachlines of the Kimberley DynamitersPlease click on the Sponsor logos located on each edge of this Home Page to visit our local Nitros supporters
