Leafs outlast pesky Bruins to increase Murdoch Division lead
By Nelson Daily Sports
Playing nine games in the month of November against divisional opponents gives the coaching staff of the Nelson Leafs a good look at the obstacles facing the Green and White in its run to success in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
Despite sitting in the Murdoch Division basement, the Grand Forks Border Bruins should never be considered an easy two points for the elite teams.
Nelson needed to battle back from a one-goal deficit to defeat the pesky Bruins 4-1 in KIJHL mid-week action Wednesday night at the NDCC Arena.
Rayce Miller provided the bulk of the scoring for the Leafs, netting the hat trick, to spark Nelson to the divisional win.
“It’s a combination of things,” said Leaf coach Dave McLellan as to the reason for the team’s success this season.
“There are certain teams that struggle with our systems play, in my opinion . . . they’re not as structured as we are.”
“(And) our work ethic every night is better than most of the teams we’ve seen, plus we’ve had lots of contributions from all lines and especially our defence.”
The Bruins struck first Wednesday, putting Nelson behind the eight ball seconds into the game when Michael Rand surprised Leaf goalie Adam Maida with a harmless shot.
But the “work-man-like” Leafs went to work after Rand’s marker, and were rewarded when Miller scored his first of three on the power play eight minutes into the contest.
In the second period, that “work ethic” McLellan was referring to kicked into high gear as Nelson outshot the Bruins 12-1 and combined for two goals by Matt MacDonald and Miller.
Nelson continued its push in the third, and if it wasn’t for the effort of Jacob Mullen in the Bruins’ nets, the final deficit would have been must greater as Nelson finished the game with a 38-13 margin in shots.
Surprisingly, in a season when the defence has stepped up not only to lead at the back end but also help with the offence, the group of Patrick Croome, Robson Cramer, Darnel St. Pierre and Austin Seaman took the night off scoring.
Which hasn’t been the case most nights.
Which has not gone unnoticed by the coaching staff.
“Any time you can have a defence that can help and put up points it’s good,” McLellan gleefully said.
“And our penalty kill is a real key element to our team,” McLellan added.
“If you look carefully at our penalty kill, at one point we were about 99 percent on the road . . . that particular system has really helped our team.”
The win increases Nelson’s lead in the Murdoch Division to three points over idle Castlegar Rebels and four over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
The Nitehawks are next up on the schedule for the Leafs, playing the Green and White at home Saturday at 7 p.m.
BLUELINES: After jettisoning two defenceman due to internal issues, the Leafs coaching staff has been forced to move a forward back to help the defensive core. Sunday, against Beaver Valley, Nelson Minor Hockey grad Nolan Percival was a rock of consistency on the blueline. Wednesday, it was Blair Andrews who was shifted back to the defence. Andrews was back in the lineup after sitting out since early October with an upper body injury. . . .Before the game the Nelson Leafs and Regional District of Central Kootenay presented Cathy Foxcroft of the Kootenay Lake Hospital Foundation a cheque for $8000. The donation is derived from bottles left by the public at RDCK Lakeside Drive Recycling Center and consolidated by the Leaf’s Bottle Depot.