The Osoyoos Coyotes will be a well-rested hockey team when they hit the ice for their home opener a week from Friday at the Sun Bowl Arena.
The Coyotes kicked off the 2017-18 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) regular season this past weekend by splitting a pair of road games.
Playing in Chase against the team they were only seconds away from defeating to qualify for the league championship final series in March, the Coyotes exacted a little revenge by coming up with a 6-4 victory.
On Saturday evening in Kelowna, the hometown Chiefs eked out a hard-fought 4-3 victory in a game where all of the scoring was done in the first 24 minutes of play.
As all Coyotes’ fans will painfully recall, the Coyotes had a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five conference final series in March and were leading game three with less than three seconds remaining on the clock.
The Heat tied that game and went on to win in overtime.
The very next night, the Coyotes were, unbelievably, less than one second away from winning in regulation and advancing to the league championship series when the Heat scored to force overtime.
Chase again won in overtime to force a fifth-and-deciding game in Osoyoos.
The Coyotes jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, but didn’t generate much offence the rest of the way and lost 3-1 as their season came to a heartbreaking end.
Head coach and general manager Ken Law said with more than a dozen players returning this year, that he would use the historic loss to Chase as motivation during this season and he’s thrilled with how his players responded on opening night.
Sam Reinbolt scored the first goal of the season for the Coyotes 90 seconds into the first period before hometown hero Evan Della Poelera scored an unassisted goal seven minutes later to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead.
Chase scored late in the first period and then took the lead with two quick goals early in the second period.
However, the Coyotes responded nicely with rookie Cameron Welch scoring two goals within three minutes – the second goal coming shorthanded.
Chase quickly tied the game at 4-4, but Carter Shannon gave the Coyotes a 5-4 lead after 40 minutes of play with a goal late in the period.
Hunter Johnson scored the only goal of the third period on a power play, with Kaleb Comishin and Judd Repole, as the Coyotes cruised to the 6-4 victory.
Chase played much of the third period shorthanded as the game turned chippy and they were given five minor penalties.
In Kelowna, the Chiefs score the first goal halfway through the first period, but the Coyotes responded 20 seconds later as Greg Kennedy scored his first goal of the season.
After Kelowna restored their one-goal lead, Hunter Johnson scored a power-play goal to tie the game at 2-2.
Kelowna once again took the lead with a late goal in the first period.
After Seth Kriese scored a power-play goal for the Coyotes early in the second period to tie the game at 3-3, Kelowna scored three minutes later to take a 4-3 lead.
After all the scoring early in the game, that goal stood up as the winner.
The Coyotes will have plenty of time to practice as they won’t play again until their home opener on Friday, Sept. 22 against the Kamloops Storm. Game time at the Sun Bowl Arena will be 7:35 p.m.
The Coyotes will play the following night in Sicamous against the hometown Eagles.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
