Kimberley Dynamiters take a commanding 3-1 series lead after back-to-back OT wins

The Kimberley Dynamiters now have a strangle hold on their series with the Creston Valley Thunder Cats after winning games three and four in overtime.

Friday’s game had 917 fans out supporting the Nitro’s, while a sprinkle of those were there for the Cats. All in attendance got their monies worth.

Kimberley’s Matt Davies opened the scoring on the power play as he rifled a shot over the shoulder of Creston’s Brock Lefebvre.

It took until the midway point for the Thunder Cats to draw even, as the electric Ronnie Wilkie levelled the game. Minutes later Luke Kalenuik would give the Cats a 2-1 lead.

Before the second could end Cooper Page would fire a puck at the net and Nic Herringer would redirect it in to knot the game at two after 40 minutes.

Nolan Kurylo would give the Dynamiters a lead for a short moment, before Creston’s Cole Arcuri would tie the game forcing over time.

The short 10-minute overtime would not solve anything and so the Civic Centre’s ice surface would be flooded for the start of the second overtime period.

Kurylo would score his second of the game a mere 32 seconds into the second overtime, James Farmer adding an assist to keep his point streak alive, to give the Dynamiters a 4-3 victory, and a 2-1 series lead.

Saturday’s game four reeked of desperation for the Cats, because they knew they couldn’t go down 3-1 in the series against the Nitro’s.

The Cats got on the board quickly, as once again, Ronnie Wilkie would score, silencing the 957 in attendance.

“Ronnie has stepped up and scored some big goals for us.” Said Thunder Cats head coach and general manager Jeff Dubois “He's giving us his best hockey at the right time of the year.

“But we need some other guys to step up and spread the offence around.”

It took until just after the midway point of the second for the Nitro’s to get on the scoresheet, Joe Karpyshyn would drive to the net, tying the game at one.

The tie was short lived as the Cats Justen James would restore the lead 14 seconds later.

The Cats were controlling the play, the Nitro’s were looking very disorganized.

“We were sloppy,” Nitro’s head coach and general manager Derek Stuart said “the bench was mostly quiet until the third period.”

The Nitro’s were even flat during the third period, it wasn’t until there was 48 seconds left on the clock that Tyler Van Steinburg would wire a shot in to tie the game and force overtime on his birthday-eve.

During overtime the Dynamiters would be awarded a four-minute power play due the Cats being called for high-sticking. This is when Kurylo would be the overtime hero, for the second game in a row, as he pounced on a rebound and banged it in.

“I just saw an opportunity, I wanted to jump right on it and put it in the net.” Kurylo said after the game four win, “It was the best feeling.”

He added that he and the team knew they got away with one, “We stole the win from them tonight, it was their game until the last minute of the third.”

Even though Kurylo was the hero, Cody Campbell was the star of both games. He stopped 73 of 78 shots fired at him in the two games.

“I feel great right now,” Campbell said “It's awesome to help the team win.”

Ever since the 6-5 game three loss to Fernie, Campbell has been fantastic. “For myself, internally, I just said enough is enough it's time to stop the puck.”

Campbell’s performance garnered praise from coach Stuart: “When Cody's been at his best, he plays like that. Tonight, we hung him out to dry, made him make too many highlight reel saves.”

Even with the lull’s in game four for the Dynamiters, Stuart is impressed by his team, “We were resilient throughout a game where we weren't at our best and a number of guys weren't feeling 100%.

“It's a direct reflection of the players’ character and dedication to the team.”

The focus and attention now shifts to the Johnny Bucyk arena for game five on Monday, a do-or-die game for Creston.

“We played well enough to win both games in Kimberley but we didn't get the job done.” Dubois said, “Now our focus is on playing a strong game at home on Monday and extending the series. We'll take it one game at a time as the cliché goes.”

As for Kimberley, Stuart knows that his team must play a desperate full 60-minutes of hockey.

“We want to finish this up right away, you never want to have a team hang around. We want to end this as quickly as we can.”

Game five starts at 8:30 MDT at the Johnny Bucyk Arena.

MATCH STICKS: Beaver Valley Nitehawks and the Osoyoos Coyotes have both swept their series and advance to their respective conference finals. James Farmer is on a 12-game point streak going back to the regular season (5G, 15A), and sits first in KIJHL playoff scoring.

Photos by Jonathan Righton