Sahara plays role of Grinch, steals Leafs Christmas

By Nelson Daily Sports

By Bruce Fuhr,
The Nelson Daily Sports

Talk about the Grinch stealing Christmas. Talk about those poor souls down in Nelsonville who now have to spend Christmas without their green candy or two green points.

Dylan Sahara took all the greenly momentum heading into the break to the top of Mount Crumpit scoring with just over a second remaining in the second overtime period to lift the Grand Forks Border Bruins to a 6-5 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League victory over the  Nelson Leafs Sunday afternoon at the NDCC Arena.

 “That was a pretty good present right there,” a beaming Sahara said from outside the boisterous Grand Forks dressing room.

Sahara, with only eight goals on the season but none bigger than Sunday’s winner, grabbed a loose puck in the neutral zone. The Kaledan, B.C. native skated down the left side of the ice before swooping in front of Nelson goalie Marcus Beesley.

Sahara out waited Beesley before lifting a backhander into bottom left corner of the net.

“I just saw the puck . . . the clock didn’t really matter,” explained Sahara. “I just had to go to the net. I was just glad I got it past him in time.”

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Leafs. The defending Murdoch Division champs are desperately trying to prove to the rest of the league this franchise can be included in the same sentence as the elite teams in the KIJHL.

However, for the second time this season the Leafs have been beaten by one of the weaker sisters.

“We kind of threw this one away,” said Leaf assistant coach Sean Dooley, who along with assistant Jason Rushton were trying to give head coach Chris Shaw an early Christmas present.

Shaw was suspended for the Grand Forks game after a line brawl broke out in the final minutes of Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Beaver Valley.

The game featured four fights, which is an automatic game suspension for the head coach of both Beaver Valley and Nelson.

“We thought we had a comfortable lead,” Dooley added. “We thought that was good enough but at the end of the game we basically threw it away.”

The Leafs had a comfortable lead. Gavin Currie scored on the power play at the 12-minute mark of the third period to give Nelson a 5-2 advantage.

But no sooner than the Leafs had done the customary high five by the bench then Sahara scored his first of two on the night to make it a two-goal game.

Twenty-one seconds later Zachary Thompson beat Beesley to make it a one-goal contest. With Nelson attempting to run out the clock Randy Tosoff scored the tying marker, tucking home a loose puck past Beesley.

“We started going right after (Thompson’s) goal,” Sahara said. “We took the momentum and were able to get right back into the game with it.”

In the overtime both teams had chances to end the contest. Leaf defenceman Tyler Parfeniuk skated around the Bruins’ defence but was denied by goalie Garrett Muir.  Muir replaced Ryan Ryman who left the game in the third with a leg injury.

Beesley was also busy as the Leafs pressed for the winner leaving the backstopper the last man standing on too many occasions.

“Grand Forks doesn’t have that bad a team,” Dooley confessed. “They’ve got a few good players on that team. We get up those goals and think the game is won but before you know it (Grand Forks) is right back in it.”

Currie, as he’s done all season, led the Leaf charge offensively with two goals. Evan J. Moir, Marcus Dahl and rookie Adam Wheeldon scored singles.

Kale Erickson and Yan Kalashnikov also scored for the Bruins. Nelson out shot Grand Forks 38-33.

The Leafs are idle for a few weeks before returning to action December 29th in Castlegar against the Rebels. Nelson hosts Spokane Braves for the annual New Year’s Eve contest at 1 p.m. in the NDCC Arena.

BLUELINES: Nelson was missing defenceman Blake Arcuri and forwards Cody Abbey and Colton Malmsten to suspension after the line brawl Saturday night in Beaver Valley. . . . Also on the sidelines due to injury was defencemen Walker Sidoni and Raymond Reimer and forward Connor McLaughlin. The news is not good for McLaughlin who could be gone for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. . . .The turning point for Nelson may have come in the third when captain Taylor O’Neil dropped the gloves with Cody Larsen of the Bruins. Because when the roof began to cave in on Nelson there was no one there to hold it up, including the team captain. . . .After being held off the scoresheet last week in Osoyoos, Leafs leading scorer Gavin Currie has quietly put together a three-game point streak. The Abbotsford native has points in 15 of the last 19 games. . . .So what would have happened in second, three-on-three, overtime has their been a penalty called by referee Erik Laughton? The veteran referee said an extra player would have been added to the team with the man advantage making the power play a 4-on-3. . . .Nelson defeated Kimberley 6-4 Friday in the Bavarian City to open the weekend. Saturday, the Leaf fell 4-1 to the Hawks in Fruitvale. . . .Grand Forks, losing to Beaver Valley 7-4 Saturday, plays in Fruitvale Tuesday and Creston Friday before heading into the Christmas break.