The opponent in the Conference finals is a familiar foe, the
Beaver Valley Nitehawks. The past three seasons these two teams have met in the
Kootenay Conference finals. The difference this year is that it is a
best-of-five series instead of a best-of-seven.
Stuart wants his team to rest, but also doesn’t want to lose
any momentum heading into the series Friday.
“Try to pick up where we left off; I think that our game six
against Creston was our best game of the playoffs thus far.”
“Our guys understand what the level of play has to be, the
compete and work ethic have to be there.”
The Nitehawks are a complete team, and a team that Stuart
has wanted to emulate all-season long because they play a full 60-minutes of
hockey.
Beaver Valley has swept their previous two series, first
taming the Border Bruins, and then trimming the Leafs.
As a result, the Nitehawks have 10 players in their lineup
that average nearly a point-per-game or more. Their goalie, Tallon Kramer, is
arguably the best goalie in the Conference, if not the league. He has been in
net for all eight wins, has a 2.01 goals against average and a .911 save
percentage.
“We will definitely have our work cut out for us with Kramer
in net.” Stuart said, but added, “In my opinion, it's the two best goalies in
our conference going at it now.”
The series begins in Fruitvale with games one and two on
Friday and Saturday at 8:30pm MDT, and games three and four in Kimberley on
Tuesday and Wednesday.
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