The Similkameen News Leader
Sports Page
POSSE PULLS OFF BIG WIN AT HOME
The fur was flying in Princeton Arena at last Friday night's Princeton Posse game against Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
Partly due to the fact that the match up was the annual 'Teddy Bear Game' and partly due to the fact that Princeton managed to bring Beaver Valley's 13-game winning streak to an end.
The game started off fast and furious with intense play at both ends of the rink. The first entry on the official game report went to Princeton's Mike Salter who drew a 2-minute interference penalty 51-seconds into the game.
In the following minutes more spectators arrived, many with teddy bears in hand, anxious to fire their furry friends onto the ice as soon as Princeton scored their first goal.
The Valley First Princeton Posse delivered at 3:50 when Dan Hillman scored off a pass from Jeremy Wagner. Anthony Leardo was also credited with an assist.
No sooner did the goal judge flash the light on to indicate there had been a goal scored, fans tossed out nearly 100 stuffed animals. The teddy bears collected from the Dairy Queen/Similkameen News Leader sponsored event, will go to the Christmas Hamper Fund for distribution to children in needy families.
Beaver Valley tied the game at 17:58 beating Posse goalie Evan Karambelas high on the stick side.
The second period saw more end to end action with Coach Dale 'Duner' Hladun running longer shifts which produced Princeton's second goal of the night on the power play.
Kyle L'Arrivee got the marker at 8:43 with assists going to Alex Young and Posse goalie Evan Karambelas.
The Posse played a solid period, but were showing signs of fatigue by the end of the frame.
It was probably a good thing that the newly installed giant video message board (provided in part by FortisBC) wasn't set up to show live action.
In the third period, both teams exploded and battled in well-matched play for most of the frame.
Beaver Valley managed to tie the game at 2-apiece with 2:29 left in the game.
When it looked as if the game may go into overtime, Princeton put intense pressure on the Nitehawk net. Kyle L'Arrivee popped in his second goal for the night with 47.4-seconds to play from in front of the goal. Alex Young and Mike Bunting received assists.
Beaver Valley called a time out with 30.7-seconds to play and after pulling their goalie for an extra man, they kept the puck in the Posse zone but could not produce.
Princeton's Alex Young got a piece of his stick on the puck and cleared it out towards the empty net. Kyle L'Arrivee raced to it and gently redirected it into the goal for his third score of the game.
By this time there was only 11.9-seconds left in the game and Princeton was leading 4 to 2.
Time expired with no further scoring and Princeton finished the year at home with a huge win.
Shots on goal: Beaver Valley 40, Princeton 28.
