Jackson Glimpel skated in on Sicamous goalie Max Gaudet to score the Coyotes’ third goal late in the first period while Osoyoos was shorthanded. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Osoyoos Coyotes handily beat the Sicamous Eagles 7-4 Saturday night after squeaking out a nail-biter 5-4 win over the Steam in Summerland the night before.
The Steam, who trail the Coyotes in second place in the Okanagan Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL), were more evenly matched with the Coyotes.
The Coyotes skated circles around the Eagles Saturday night at the Sun Bowl Arena, outshooting them 49-25.
The score was closer than it should have been only because several times the Coyotes made some careless errors, one time being inattentive during a player change and other times leaving goalie Adam Jones without defensive back up.
On Friday, the score see-sawed back and forth as first Summerland scored before Osoyoos took the lead on two first-period power play goals.
The first was scored by Cody Allen from Sam Reinbolt and Carter Robinson and the second was Judd Repole from Ryan Roseboom and Colin Bell.
Summerland scored the only second period goal to tie the score at 2-2 going into the third period.
Allen scored his second power play goal early in the third period, assisted by Jackson Glimpel, and once again the Coyotes pulled into the lead.
Summerland then scored two goals to tie the game and then pull ahead 4-3.
It all came down to the final seconds of the third period.
With 49 seconds remaining, Repole scored his second goal of the night, assisted by Austin Steger and Daniel Stone, to tie the game.
Then, with just 11 seconds left, the Coyotes scored again to win 5-4. Steger scored the winning goal, assisted by Ryan Roseboom.
On Saturday, Evan Della-Paolera opened the scoring in the first period, with Reid Wilson and Allen assisting.
Two and a half minutes later, Connor Onstein made it 2-0 for the Coyotes. Steger and Stone assisted.
Sicamous got on the scoreboard when the Coyotes changed on the fly and were inattentive.
The Coyotes quickly regained their momentum and while killing a penalty, Glimpel managed to break away and fire the puck past goalie Max Gaudet. Reinbolt and Allen assisted.
The second period opened with the Coyotes ahead 3-1, but they soon widened their lead.
Reinbolt fired a shot past Gaudet from in front of the net. Allen and Onstein got the assists.
The Coyotes kept up continuous pressure on Sicamous and it appeared like a power play even when the teams were both at full strength.
Past the halfway mark, Repole set up Roseboom who fired a shot from close range into the wide-open net when Gaudet was caught on the wrong side.
At this point, the Eagles put the beleaguered Gaudet out of his misery, replacing him with backup goalie Josh Bolding.
Sicamous managed one more goal when Jordan Bautista caught the Coyotes off guard and skated in on a breakaway.
Near the end of the second period on a Coyote power play, Bell got the puck in front of the net and fired it from low down into the upper right corner. Steger and Stone assisted.
Less than a minute later, Sicamous scored again to end the second period with the Coyotes up 6-3.
Early in the final period, Sicamous got their only power play goal, closing the gap to 6-4.
After a pause for a fight between Reinbolt and Austin Miller of the Eagles, the game resumed.
Ten seconds into a Coyote power play, Roseboom scored his second goal of the night, assisted by Steger and Bell.
Neither team managed to score in the final half of the third period, though there were a few more blows, as the game wound to a close and a 7-4 Osoyoos victory.
The two victories put the Coyotes nine points ahead of the second-place Summerland Steam in the Okanagan Division, though there was no report on a scheduled Saturday game between Summerland and Revelstoke at press time.
The Coyotes are second in the entire KIJHL, just two points behind the Beaver Valley Nitehawks, who have a game in hand.
The Coyotes next face the Princeton Posse on Wednesday in Princeton before hosting the North Okanagan Knights at the Sun Bowl on Saturday.
The Posse and the Knights are battling each other for a playoff spot, likely to face Osoyoos in the opening series. The Posse, who were bottom of the division for most of the season, have now pulled three points ahead of the Knights.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Sam Reinbolt fired a short from in front of the Sicamous net to score the Coyotes’ fourth goal early in the second period. (Richard McGuire photo)
Ryan Roseboom (right) had an open net to shoot into after being set up by Judd Repole (left). This made it 5-1 for the Coyotes. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Coyotes made a few bad mistakes allowing Sicamous to score. This was one when Jordan Bautista got a breakaway and skated in on goalie Adam Jones to score unassisted. Colton Rhodes (right) wasn’t able to come to the rescue on time. (Richard McGuire photo)
Colin Bell fired the puck from low down at close range into the upper right corner of the net, scoring the Coyotes’ sixth goal. (Richard McGuire photo)
