Valley West sweeps rug out from under Kootenay Ice, grabs two weekend wins in Langley
By The Nelson Daily Sports
It’s getting to be a bit of a pattern for the Kootenay Ice Major Midget hockey club.
The team plays well in the opener of the two-game set before tanking in the second half of the doubleheader.
Valley West Hawks posted a weekend sweep of the Ice during B.C. Major Midget Hockey League action in Langley.
Latrell Charleson of Surrey scored his second of the game during the final minute to power the Hawks to a 5-4 win over Kootenay.
Sunday, the Hawks broke open a close game with three third period goals en route to a 6-1 shellacking of the Ice.
Saturday, after falling behind 3-0 after one period, Kootenay got its skating legs and took advantage of timely penalties to score three times on the power play to rally back.
Darren Medeiros of Castlegar, Mitch Foyle of Fruitvale and Jake Lucchini of Trail scored during the second to pull the Ice to within a goal of the Hawks at 4-3.
Justin Post of Nelson then tied the game at 4-4 in the third before Charleson shattered the dreams of an Ice win with a late goal. Lucchini finished the game with three points after adding a pair of assists.
Sunday, Valley West scored three special teams goal to sink Kootenay.
Quinn Klimchuk of Castlegar scored the lone goal for Kootenay in the second period.
Brett Soles of Cranbrook and Kimberley Newell of Nelson shared the netminding duties for Kootenay.
Kootenay, 1-15-2, returns back to the West Kootenay for the next two weekends.
Saturday and Sunday Kootenay hosts Greater Vancouver Canadians at the Castlegar and District Community Complex Arena.
Game time is 4 p.m.
Sunday, the teams meet against in Castlegar at 9:30 a.m.
Greater Vancouver is fourth in league standings with a record of 9-5-4.
ICE NOTES: The three point game Saturday gives Jake Lucchini 20 points on the season. The total leads the Ice in scoring. Darren Medeiros is second with 15 points. Lucchini has scored nine goals for Kootenay.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
