The Osoyoos Coyotes have vaulted into second place in their division, handily beating the North Okanagan Knights and the Summerland Steam on the weekend.
On Friday, goalie Daniel Paul earned the shutout as the Coyotes beat the Knights 4-0 in Armstrong.
Then Saturday, the Coyotes scored a 7-3 win over the division-leading Steam in Summerland.
The Coyotes trail the Steam by five points in Okanagan Division standings, but Osoyoos has two games in hand.
The Coyotes received a boost from the return of last year’s star player, Colin Bell, who scored one goal in each of the weekend games. Bell was unable to start the season with the Coyotes because he was busy fighting wildfires.
Friday’s game saw no scoring in the first period, even though Osoyoos dominated play with 19-7 shots on goal.
Bell opened the scoring on a power play five minutes into the second period, assisted by his old line mate Judd Repole.
Austin Cleaver made it 2-0 for Osoyoos late in the period, assisted by Carter Shannon.
Goals by Sam Reinbolt and Hunter Johnson in the third period completed the scoring for Coyotes.
Johnson assisted on Reinbolt’s goal. Shannon and Repole assisted on Johnson’s goal, scored on a power play.
The Knights, who are in distant last place in the division, only managed 19 shots on goal compared to 58 for Osoyoos.
Saturday’s game got off to a good start for Osoyoos, with Shannon getting his first goal of a hat trick, unassisted, just 35 seconds into the game.
By the time Summerland finally managed a goal, five minutes into the second period, the Coyotes already had five goals, three by Shannon.
Bell scored, assisted by Repole, to make it 2-0.
Then rookie Keaghan Holub scored, assisted by fellow rookie Maxime Dupont, to put the Coyotes up 3-0.
Shannon scored his second goal of the game with just 37 seconds remaining in the first period, assisted by Cameron Welch and Cleaver.
Shannon then opened the second-period scoring just over a minute in with his third goal of the game.
Both teams managed two goals each in the second period. The other Osoyoos goal was by Johnson, with Brandon Onstein assisting.
Cody Swan scored two goals for Summerland before Connor Onstein added the seventh Osoyoos goal to make the final score 7-3. Johnson and Kaleb Comishin assisted.
The Coyotes next host the 100 Mile House Wranglers at the Sun Bowl Arena on Saturday. Then on Wednesday, Nov. 8 they return to Armstrong to again face the North Okanagan Knights.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
