I may not be popular with this viewpoint, but last Saturday’s Osoyoos Coyotes home game against the Revelstoke Grizzlies was a game the Coyotes were quite frankly lucky to come out on top of.
In the final result, the Coyotes pulled off a squeaker 2-1 win over the Grizzlies, but not without a fair bit of a mauling on both sides.
From the first drop of the puck, Revelstoke dominated most of the game from simple puck possession to passing plays.
Don Urquhart photo.
The game was a punishing one, heavy-hitting from the get-go with a clear size advantage to the Grizzlies and something the coaches must have prepared the Coyotes for, as they gave an equal if not better payback for each board thundering check they received. In fact, one player from each team limped off the ice after two separate rough ups.
The Coyotes did however seem to be rattled by the physicality of the game, never really able to get their plays together, having to settle for a dump the puck to centre ice and beyond followed up by the corner grind to try and get something together.
This never lasted very long before the Grizzlies would inevitably regain control and storm out of their zone in formation, steaming through centre ice and back again into the Coyote’s zone.
A clear majority of the game was spent in the Coyotes territory, where feverish scrambling eventually resulted in the puck being hurtled out of the zone with no clear passing play structure, just desperation to get the puck out.
But one interesting aspect that clearly had a bearing on the final outcome was the shots on goal. While Revelstoke kept the puck in the Coyotes’ end of the rink the majority of the time, they clearly weren’t able to convert that time into shots on goal.
To be honest, when I saw the final tally I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Coyotes had a 10 shot lead with 32 shots on goal compared to the Grizzlies’ 22. That just doesn’t jive with the mental picture I have of the game, but it is fact.
Don Urquhart photo.
Clearly, the defensive zone scramble of the Coyotes was good enough to keep the shots on goal down. And for sure credit must go to goalie Kenneth Marquart who put in a solid performance stopping 21 of the 22 shots aimed in his direction, some of them clearly minted as goals, yet denied by the vigilant netminder.
A couple of other pertinent observations: the Grizzlies are not only bigger, but they are also clearly faster. It was a thing to behold, their repeated charges out of their zone through center ice, a number of times with a three on two, with a speed that was impressive.
At the end of the day, it was sheer grit and determination that carried Osoyoos to victory. Not a lot of eye-pleasing finesse, but grit did the job and the final result is really all that matters in the here-and-now. But going forward there are surely lots of talking points from the coaches after that game.
With a Revelstoke powerplay goal by Bennett Kuhnlein (Carter Bettenson, Jacob Smith) at the 12-minute mark of the first period, the Grizzlies’ dominance seemed an ominous portent of where the game might be headed. But a tangle in front of Grizzlies goalie Jozef Kuchaslo with only 18 seconds left in the first period saw Osoyoos’ Ethan McKinley (Kaleb Kremp) even up the score and sending the home team to the dressing room with a much needed supercharge.
The second period saw Osoyoos off to a flying start but ultimately the gameplay settled back into the same frustrating struggle to get the puck out of their end. Frustration plus heavy checking on both sides led to two penalties apiece. The period ended with both teams tied.
More of the same was how the third period began but the light at the end of the tunnel came at the 6:20 minute mark with Ethan O’Rourke (Crae Dawson, Zab De Guzman) hitting the mark on a powerplay and putting the Coyotes up by one.
The remainder of the period was a bit of a nail-biter as that Grizzly pressure in the Coyotes’ den was again unrelenting. The fire was clearly lit under their backsides as the last third of the period finally saw some more coordinated play by the Coyotes, clearly keen on guarding their precious one-goal lead. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The Osoyoos Coyotes now lead the Bill Ohlhausen Division with 10 points and are tied for first with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks in the overall Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) standings.
Don Urquhart photo.
The Coyotes take on the Summerland Steam on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at Sun Bowl Arena starting at 7:35 p.m. Vaccination card showing full vaccination is required for entry. Masks are also mandatory.
