Osoyoos’s Brandon Watson scores against the Golden Rockets at the Sun Bowl Arena on Nov. 6. Photo by Jen Jensen - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 10, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The pack have won three straight following a hard-earned win over Golden on Nov. 6 and a shutout against Princeton on Nov. 7.
Osoyoos hosted the Golden Rockets at the Sun Bowl Arena before a crowd of 450 on the evening of Nov. 6 and started the scoring off less than four minutes into the game.
Josh Gray and Taylor House were able to pick up a loose puck lost by Jason Bell at 16:04 in the first and pass it along to Stefen Jensen who scored his first of the night.
A little more than a minute later Golden net-minder James Leonard couldn’t keep the puck from popping out of his glove and Brandon Watson was able to top-shelf the puck at 15:01 to put the Coyotes up 2-0.
That’s when Osoyoos got into penalty trouble.
Josh DaCosta was caught hooking at 11:52; Brandon Parrone received two minutes in the box at the 10-minute mark for interference and Bell was nailed for slashing at 9:01.
Golden was eventually able to capitalize on Osoyoos’s penalty problems when Justin Fulton beat Osoyoos goaltender Kyle Laslo at 7:40 to cut the Coyotes’ lead to one goal.
With two minutes left in the period, however, Thierry Martine was able to return the favour, scoring a power-play goal from the right side of the Golden net with help from Jensen and Ross Mancuso after Keith Wake of the Rockets was charged with holding at 3:01.
The second period was Golden’s turn for a parade of penalties with Tyler Fairall getting called for hooking at 16:39 and Derek Patterson going to the box for holding at 15:39.
But the Rockets were able to kill their second-period penalties.
Laslo also ended up in trouble when he was called for roughing at 7:55 for dropping Golden’s Tanner Cochrane in front of the Coyotes’ net.
The pack was able to increase its lead at 5:08 after DaCosta fired in a shot from the Golden blue line and a scramble broke out in front of the Rocket’s net where Gray was able to get the puck to Mancuso who made the red light turn on with a high slice over the stick of Leonard.
At 3:53 the Rockets scored the first of three unanswered goals to tie the game when Fulton beat Laslo after the net minder lost his stick diving for the puck.
Then, Cochrane scored on the power play at the 2:12 mark while House was in the box on a hooking penalty.
The tying goal came at 15:48 in the third period when Golden’s Bryden Marsh fired a hard shot that slipped by Laslo.
This last goal quieted the crowd and for the first half of the final period the Coyotes appeared sluggish, sloppy and subdued on the ice.
The pack broke the tie at 8:30, however, when Jensen scored his second of the night thanks to an assist from House.
Osoyoos had a great chance for a go-ahead goal in the 14th minute of play when Leonard briefly came out of the net to handle the puck, giving Jensen an opportunity to score on an empty net, but the Golden net-minder was able to get back between the pipes in time to defend his keep.
The Coyotes went up by two goals at 3:59 when a shot from House from the right side of the Golden net was deflected to the waiting stick of Jensen on the net’s left side.
He put the puck away for his third of the night.
The reawakening of the pack late in the third period continued when Watson scored his second of the night at 1:50 with an assist from Sam Nigg to give the Coyotes a 7-4 win.
Laslo stopped 32 of Golden’s 36 shots during the game while Osoyoos put 44 shots on the Rocket’s net.
The next day, the pack visited the Posse in Princeton.
After a scoreless first period, the Coyotes went up 1-0 four minutes and 15 seconds into the second period when Princeton goalie Brett Patchett accidentally scored on his own net when he banked the puck off the heel of his stick and into his own net.
The mistake rattled the Posse and Martine was able to score 27 seconds later.
Nigg and Watson then scored goals within 13 seconds of each other and that was all the Coyotes needed as the third period was scoreless as well.
Goaltender Billy McGladrey earned his first junior hockey shutout.
Thanks to his efforts on the weekend, Jensen is now second in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s player standings with 38 points as of Nov. 7, having 21 goals and 17 assists under his belt through 22 games played.
He is only one point behind Castlegar’s Ryan Aynsley.
Following in third place is House with 36 points and Martine holds the No. 4 spot with 35 points.
The pack is now 17 points ahead of second-place Kelowna in the league’s Okanagan Division.
Their next challenger is the North Okanagan Knights who come to town on Nov. 12.
[email protected]
