Osoyoos Coyotes’ forward Ryan Roseboom had a good scoring chance on this play during the team’s home opener 10 days ago, but Chase goalie Michael Byer managed to fend off the attack. The Coyotes’ returned to home ice Wednesday night when they hosted the Kelowna Chiefs. The Coyotes were looking to extend their season-opening win streak to five games after picking up easy wins over Columbia Valley and Golden this past weekend on the road. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Coyotes continued to score goals seemingly at will during a very successful road trip this past weekend that extended their season-opening winning streak to four games.
The Coyotes tried to extend that lead to five games Wednesday night when they played host to the Kelowna Chiefs at the Sun Bowl Arena.
After two lopsided wins over North Okanagan Knights and Chase Heat to start the season, the Coyotes travelled to Invermere Friday night and left the rink with an 8-4 victory over the Columbia Valley Rockies. On Saturday night, the Coyotes travelled to Golden and jumped out to a 4-0 lead on their way to an easy 6-3 victory.
Head coach and general manager Ken Law said he believed he had a very talented club to start the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) regular season, but didn’t envision his club getting off to such a sensational start.
Averaging more than seven goals per game during the four-game winning streak has eased the pressure on his players, he said.
“I thought we would be able to score because we had some key veterans coming back and we brought in some very skilled young kids, but I couldn’t foresee scoring this many goals early on,” said Law. “We still have some work to do in our defensive zone and we’ll be working on that this week, but we’re blessed with four lines that can score and we’re going to get our chances to score almost every night.”
Having Aaron Azevedo, who finished second in team scoring as a rookie last season, return as an overage player has been a very nice bonus for his hockey club, said Law.
Azevedo will act as team captain during home games, while veteran winger Troy Maclise will be wearing the captain’s jersey during all road games this season, said Law.
Against Columbia Valley, the Coyotes responded with four consecutive goals after the Rockies grabbed a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the game.
Maclise tied things up 50 seconds later and rookie Colin Bell gave the Coyotes a lead they would never surrender several minutes later. Darryl Senholt made it 3-1 for the Coyotes with a power-play goal with only 28 seconds left in the first period.
Brett Jewell extended the lead to 4-1 in the first minute of the second period.
After Columbia Valley scored a minute later to cut the lead in half, the Coyotes got goals from Drew Carter and Colten Braid to extend the lead to 6-2.
Columbia Valley made it interesting with two late goals in the second period.
However, the Coyotes put things away with two unanswered goals, by Blake Holawaty and Maclise, in the third period.
Against Golden, Jackson DeMatos scored the only goal of the first period to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead. They scored three-straight goals by Luc Gradisar, Rainer Glimpel and Braid to extend the lead to 4-0 halfway through the second period.
Golden scored two goals late in the period to cut the deficit in half, however, Glimpel and Braid scored their second goals of the game in the third, while Golden scored once in the final frame to give the Coyotes the 6-3 win.
The Coyotes will return to the road this coming weekend as they play 100 Mile House on Friday evening and Kamloops on Saturday night. Kamloops beat Osoyoos in the league semi-finals in last year’s playoffs.
Their next home game is Wednesday, Oct. 1 against Princeton. Game will be 7:30 p.m.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
