Brett Jewell (right) fires the puck from close range into the back of the net behind 100 Mile House goalie Kristian Stead during a recent game at the Sun Bowl Arena. The Coyotes are the heavy favourites to win the KIJHL championship after losing only seven games in regulation time over the course of the 52-game regular season schedule. The Coyotes begin the playoffs at home against Princeton Posse Friday night.
RICHARD McGUIRE
After one of the greatest regular seasons in league history, the Osoyoos Coyotes have every reason to be a confident group heading into the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) playoffs.
“There’s not a guy on this team that doesn’t believe we can go all the way and win the championship,” said Coyotes’ co-captain Troy Maclise. “Now it’s just a matter of doing what we did all year and play even better in the playoffs.
“If we do that, there’s not a team we feel that can beat us in a seven-game series.”
The Coyotes completed an incredible regular season this past weekend as they defeated Summerland Steam 3-1 in Summerland on Friday night and then wrapped up the regular season with yet another convincing win over the North Okanagan Knights by a score of 6-2.
The Coyotes finished the regular season with a record of 42 wins, seven regulation losses, two ties and one overtime loss, good enough for 87 points.
They easily claimed the KIJHL regular seasons points title as Fernie Ghostriders finished well behind with 78 points.
The Coyotes will be the prohibitive favourite in their first-round playoff series against the Princeton Posse, a team that finished the regular season under .500 with a record of 22-24-3-1-2, good enough for 49 points. The Coyotes scored the most goals in the entire league (239) and allowed the fewest goals against (116).
The playoff series against Princeton kicks off this weekend, with games one and two set for Friday and Saturday night, respectively, in Osoyoos at the Sun Bowl Arena.
Games three and four will be played in Princeton on Monday and Tuesday evening, respectively. If a fifth game is needed, it will be played in Osoyoos next Thursday evening, with game six, if necessary, to be played in Princeton next Friday night. If a seventh-and-deciding game is needed, it would be played next Saturday evening at the Sun Bowl Arena.
Head coach and general manager Ken Law said his players are ready to take their level of play to another level starting Friday night.
“We’re excited to get going in the second season, which is when you want to be playing your best hockey,” said Law. “We’ve had a pretty incredible regular season, but that’s all behind us now and the boys are very excited about taking it to another level and showing what we’re really capable of.”
Following their incredible regular season success, Law knows his team will be the prohibitive favourites against Princeton and any team they face in the playoffs.
“Being the favourite isn’t always a bad thing as it shows you have the respect of other teams in the league,” he said. “We worked very hard throughout the season to accumulate the record we did, but it’s up to us to not be overconfident and show all of this success wasn’t a fluke.
“We know if we play like we can that it’s going to be very difficult for any team to beat us one or two games, never mind four to win a series.”
The Coyotes will head into the playoffs relatively healthy with veteran Jackson DeMatos the only regular who won’t be playing as he’s still recovering from a serious upper body injury.
“Jackson is back skating with us, but I don’t think he will be playing in the Princeton series as he’s been off skates for several weeks now and has to get back in game shape,” he said. “Besides that, we’re ready to go without any other serious injuries to report.”
Veteran Lawrence Langan and Brett Soles, who was acquired in a trade two months ago, give the Coyotes arguably the best goaltending tandem in the league, said Law.
While he wouldn’t confirm who would be in net for game one against Princeton, Law made it very clear both his goaltenders will see plenty of action in what he hopes will be a long and successful playoff run.
“To me they are both equally as talented and two of the very best goalies in our league,” said Law. “I was going to sit them both down after practice today (Monday) and see if they would be comfortable with continuing what we did most of the season since Brett arrived and see if they would both be alright with alternating. If they’re OK with that, that’s probably how we’ll handle it because they’re both great goalies and they both deserve to play.”
Law says this year’s team is even better than the Coyotes’ squad that captured the KIJHL championship during his first season in Osoyoos five years ago.
“I think this team is deeper than the team that won it all in 2010,” he said. “We had an incredible goaltender (Kyle Laslo) who was our best player almost every game.
“This year’s team has two goalies who are comparable to Laslo, four lines that can score and a defensive corps that is the best in the league. We have a very tight-knit group of kids who show up to go to work every single night and they have been a pleasure to coach from the first day of training camp.”
Law is confident the Coyotes are ready to play their best hockey starting Friday night.
“Playoff hockey means playing your best when it counts and I think this team is capable of taking it up another notch,” he said. “If we play hard for 60 minutes every night we’ll be very tough to beat.”
Co-captain Aaron Azevedo agrees.
“We have a great group of guys on this team and our only goal all year was to win a championship,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we’re ready to go.”
Azevedo, who tied for the league scoring lead with 70 points (25 goals and 45 assists), said the fan support this season has been incredible and he’s confident the team’s loyal fans will still be cheering in April when the KIJHL league finals are held.
“We came up just short the last two years and we don’t plan on coming up short this year,” he said.
Maclise echoed the same sentiments.
“We think this team is good enough to get to the Cyclone Cup (provincial championships) and Keystone Cup (Western Canadian championships), but we’ve got to take care of business and win this league first,” he said. “We’re 16 wins away and we can’t wait to get started.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
