Coyote Seth Kriese tries to knock a loose puck into the net as Princeton players appear to be lining up to stop him. It was Posse goalie Taylor Kaban who made the save. The Coyotes were outplayed and went down to a 5-1 defeat. With both teams holding back their veterans, it was a chance for the rookies to show their stuff. (Richard McGuire photo)

With just over one week until the games begin to count, the Osoyoos Coyotes have trimmed their roster to a manageable 25 players as the team completed a four-day training camp this past weekend that included one win and one loss against the Princeton Posse in exhibition games played over the weekend.

“We had 36 players in camp, but we’re down to 25 and that’s what we’ll probably go with heading into the first couple of weeks of the season,” said head coach and general manager Ken Law, who is heading into his eighth season as bench boss of the Coyotes.

With a core of 13 returning players – leading scorer Colin Bell will also be back but not until October once his contract as a provincial wildfire contractor expires – Law expects his team to once again be a contender.

As diehard Coyotes’ fans will remember, the Coyotes lost a heartbreaking conference final series against Chase Heat as Chase scored goals in the final three seconds on consecutive nights while facing elimination and won both games in overtime.

The Coyotes couldn’t recover and dropped the deciding game on home ice as Chase advanced to the KIJHL championship series.

With so many returning players, Law said he won’t have any trouble motivating his club and believes they will make another run at the league championship this coming season.

“I don’t know if we could have done anything differently … we were a second away from advancing and lost two games, which is still rather hard to believe,” he said. “The returning players won’t be hard to motivate that’s for sure.”

Ironically, the Coyotes kick off the new season on Sept. 8 in Chase against the Heat.

The Coyotes host Summerland Steam in an exhibition game Saturday evening at the Sun Bowl Arena before wrapping up the exhibition season Sunday in Summerland.

Game time Saturday is 7:35 p.m.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times

Emilio Facaccio (No. 14) had a chance to score for the Osoyoos Coyotes, but he couldn’t put the puck past Princeton Posse goalie Taylor Kaban. The Coyotes were outplayed and went down to a 5-1 defeat. With both teams holding back their veterans, it was a chance for the rookies to show their stuff. (Richard McGuire photo)