Round one of the Neil Murdoch Division semifinals was over before last week's report hit the newsstands, with both the Grand Forks Border Bruins and Beaver Valley Nitehawks sweeping their respective series against the Castlegar Rebels and Nelson Leafs.
Games three and four in the Bruins/Rebels series were played in Castlegar on Monday and Tuesday nights, and there were plenty of Grand Forks fans who made the trip across the pass to see the final two games of the series live.
On Monday night, the two teams played an evenly-matched game which saw no scoring in the first period and the Rebels narrowly outshooting the Bruins 8-7.
In the second period, Jace Koole scored his first of the post-season from Keenan Holland and Logan McCabe, and Theo Naidu got his second from McCabe and Ashton Schram. The Bruins held the Rebels scoreless in the third period to bring the series to 3-0. Jasper Tait had the shutout for the Bruins after facing 21 shots.
On Tuesday night, with the Rebels facing elimination, the Castlegar squad dug in deep to make a final concerted push to pick up a win and extend the series back to Grand Forks for game five. Twelve minutes into the game, the Rebels struck first for the first time in the series. Brayden Rotach put Castlegar ahead with an assist from Josh Gamble. The Bruins had the game tied before the first intermission, as Ryker Rougeau earned his first goal of the playoffs with Logan McCabe and Thomas Clarke assisting at 15:27.
Despite the Rebels outshooting the Bruins in the second period 17-9, scoring in the frame was all Grand Forks. Keenan Holland scored his third of the playoffs at 1:13 (Carter Price, Drake Olineck). Nash Wassing got his second of the series from Holland and Koole, and, while short-handed, Rougeau set up Brandon Gray who put the Bruins ahead 4-1 after 40 minutes.
Castlegar continued to push back, scoring twice in the third period (Josh Hogman, Reid Gerrand (power play)) to get back within one, but a Bruins power play in the final two minutes of the game saw Logan McCabe pick up his first goal of the playoffs in what would end as a 5-3 victory for Grand Forks.
The Rebels did a good job containing the Bruins' top line during the series, limiting regular season points leaders Levi Astill and Tyler Burke to a pair of assists each, but the depth of the Bruins' lineup came through, with multiple-goal scorers including Keenan Holland providing three goals and two assists during the series, Nash Wassing with two goals and an assist, and Alex Edwards and Theo Naidu each with two goals. In all, 19 Bruins registered a point during round one.
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks also swept their series, setting the stage for a rematch of last year's division final which ended with the Nitehawks winning four games to two.
The Border Bruins have home-ice advantage this year, so the first two games of the series will be played at the Jack Goddard Memorial Arena this weekend, Friday March 14 and Saturday March 15. Pack the Jack to cheer on the Bruins in the quest for the Murdoch division championship.
Last year, both the Nitehawks and Bruins had a fan bus available to get to the away games, and we can expect the same this year - for details on the Bruins fan bus to Fruitvale for games 3 and 4 next week, check the Bruins social media pages or e-mail gameday@borderbruins.com.
