Coyote Rory Neary ( No. 12) had Princeton goalie Phoenix Logan-Hill all to himself for a moment, but couldn’t score. It didn’t matter. Neary picked up two assists as Osoyoos beat Princeton 6-3 Sunday at the Sun Bowl Arena. Photo by Richard McGuire.

 

The Osoyoos Coyotes appear to have snapped out of their slump if their recent three victories in a row is any indication.
Their 6-3 victory Sunday afternoon over the Princeton Posse at the Sun Bowl Arena capped off two out-of-town victories in the preceding week.
The Coyotes beat the Penticton Lakers 6-4 in Penticton December 5, then moved on to defeat Chase Heat 6-3 in Oliver Saturday night.
Head Coach Ken Law says the team has changed personnel on some of the lines and that seems to have helped a great deal.
“The guys are believing in themselves again,” he said. “They’re playing with a bit of an edge and doing a little better job in their own zone.”
He also quipped that maybe having different coaches on the bench has helped.
Law has watched the past five games from the stands after receiving a six-game suspension for what he terms as “just a misunderstanding with a referee … I offered him a water bottle and he wasn’t ready for it.”
Law will also have to sit out Friday’s game in Kelowna, a game he says “is going to be a huge one,” though he’s confident the Coyotes will stay on their roll.
In Sunday’s game, the Coyotes got an early start on the scoring with a goal by Scott Folden barely two minutes into the game. Just before the halfway mark, Troy Maclise picked up his first of two goals, knocking in a rebound.
Princeton came back with a goal by Lane Erickson with 5:27 remaining in the first period, but Osoyoos reasserted its lead with a quick power play goal by Beau Browning just 20 seconds into the second period.
Goals by Brandon Watson and another power play goal by Maclise gave the Coyotes a comfortable 5-1 lead at the end of the second period.
In the final period, Princeton tried to turn up the heat, and they did manage two goals (by Kyle Moore and Adrian Coulter), but Osoyoos also got one, by Colin Chmelka, and the home team ended the game with a 6-3 victory.
Chmelka’s goal, combined with two earlier assists, gave him three points and earned him first star of the game.
In Saturday’s game in Oliver, the Coyotes scored the first four goals of the game, a lead they held until almost the final minute of the second period. Osoyoos goals were scored by Evan Last, Alex Grupe, Garrett Kucher and Rory Neary, with Neary scoring while the Coyotes were shorthanded.
With just 1:06 left in the second period, Shelby Kostyshen scored a power play goal for Chase Heat to kill any Coyote hopes for a shutout.
The final period saw the two teams more evenly matched both in goals and shots on goal, with each team scoring twice.
Grupe got his second goal of the night and also assisted on a short-handed goal by Austin Lee,
The game in Penticton started with the Lakers scoring early in the first period, but Osoyoos broke out of their slump scoring the next four goals before Penticton added another in the final minute of the second period. Osoyoos goals were scored by Watson, Grupe and two by Chmelka.
Penticton continued their comeback into the third period scoring two goals six minutes apart to tie the game 4-4.
Watson came to the rescue with two more goals, to complete his hat track, at 4:36 and with just 26 seconds remaining. Kucher and Last assisted on both goals.