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Nitros double up Leafs

Goaltender Tyson Brouwer steals a win for the Dynamiters Friday night in Nelson
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Kimberley Dynamiters

Taylor Rocca

The Kimberley Dynamiters extended their undefeated streak to start the 2014-15 KIJHL campaign, doubling up the Nelson Leafs 4-2 Friday night.

The Nitros moved to 4-0-0-0 with the road win and will look to make it five straight wins tomorrow night when they return home to face the Castlegar Rebels at the Kimberley Civic Centre. The loss drops Nelson to 3-1-1-1.

“Can you say Tyson Brouwer?” said Nitros head coach Jerry Bancks over the phone following the game. “That’s all you really need to say. He definitely stole one for us.”

Brouwer, the Dynamiters workhorse, turned in a stellar performance between the pipes, steering aside 33 of the 35 shots directed his way. At the opposite end of the rink, Brett Soles made 16 saves on 19 shots for the Leafs.

Nitros forward Coy Prevost carried the offence for the second consecutive game, deflecting a third-period point shot past Soles to put Kimberley out in front 3-2. Prevost’s tally came 1:19 into the third period. The 17-year-old added an empty-net goal to ice the game late in regulation.

Last Sunday, Prevost sent three pucks to the back of the net as the Dynamiters cruised into Castlegar and blew away the Rebels by a final score of 7-4.

A relatively tame affair in Nelson erupted with 3:22 remaining in regulation as Leafs D Darnel St. Pierre stepped up and levelled Nitros forward Tyson Klingspohn just inside the Kimberley blue line. St. Pierre was given a five-minute major for head contact and ejected from the game following the play.

According to Bancks, Klingspohn is fine and expected to be ready for tomorrow night’s tilt against Castlegar.

Branden Chow opened the scoring on the night, giving Nelson a 1-0 lead late in the first period.

Tyler Garcia notched a power-play marker to draw the Nitros even early in what would be a back-and-forth middle frame.

The Leafs retook the lead midway through the period as Rayce Miller knocked a rebound past a helpless Brouwer. The goal came after Garcia was felled by a high-stick in the offensive zone. Play carried on and a negated icing allowed the Leafs to create a scoring opportunity Miller eventually capitalized on.

“It’s very frustrating, but it’s what you get,” Bancks said regarding the officiating Friday night. “I think our players do a good job. They’re not yapping at them.

“And that’s what I tell [the players]. If anyone is going to talk to the refs, it’s going to be [the coaching staff].”

Before the second period expired, Jason Richter notched the Nitros second power-play goal of the evening to bring things square heading into the final frame.

“You need everybody going and that didn’t happen tonight,” Bancks added. “The line of Richter, Buckley and Klingspohn probably played too much.

“For the start of the third period I played two lines, basically, because we had too many guys not going. That hurts you. You have to have everybody going when you play these two [games] in two [nights].”

While Prevost registered two goals for the Nitros, forward Eric Buckey and defenceman Jonas Gordon both chipped in with two helpers apiece.

Michael Crawford, Nolan Percival and Austin Seaman tallied one assist each for the Leafs.

The Dynamiters return to Kimberley to host the Castlegar Rebels tomorrow night at the Kimberley Civic Centre. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. (MT).

The Leafs are back in action Sunday, Sept. 28 when they welcome the Sicamous Eagles to Nelson for a 2:30 (PT) puck drop.