The Kamloops Storm and Osoyoos Coyotes meet at centre ice to offer each other congratulations on a well-played series. (Richard McGuire photo)
When push came to shove, the Osoyoos Coyotes couldn’t score goals when it counted the most and it cost them a berth in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) championship series.
“We scored more than five goals per game throughout the regular season and didn’t have any trouble scoring in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but we couldn’t score when it counted the most against Kamloops and it cost us the series,” said Coyotes’ head coach and general manager Ken Law.
After easily winning game one in the KIJHL conference finals 7-2, the Coyotes lost four-consecutive games, including a heartbreaking 2-1 decision to the Storm last Tuesday night on home ice, to see their promising season come to an abrupt end.
After one of the best regular seasons in league history – where they lost only nine out of 52 games – the Coyotes lost in the conference finals for the third-consecutive season.
This is the second year in a row that the Coyotes have faced off against the Kamloops Storm and lost in five games in the conference finals.
After winning the opening game, the Coyotes lost a very tough overtime game in game two and that was the turning point in the series, said Law.
The Coyotes scored with eight seconds remaining in regulation time to send the game into overtime, but dropped a 4-3 contest in double overtime.
When the series returned to Kamloops, the Storm won game three rather easily by a score of 6-3.
Another turning point was game four in Kamloops, when the Coyotes fired 65 shots at Storm netminder Jacob Mullen, but could only score one late goal as they lost that contest 3-1.
In their final three games of the season, the Coyotes only scored five goals.
They had not lost three games in a row all season, but lost four in a row when it counted the most.
Losing the second game on home ice was, in retrospect, the key to the series, said Law.
“If we had won that second game in overtime, we would have put an awful lot of pressure on them heading back to Kamloops,” he said. “But they took that game and were a very confident group heading into game three at home.”
While it’s extremely disappointing to lose in the playoffs after such a remarkable regular season, this wasn’t a matter of his team not playing to its capabilities, said Law.
“We played well enough to win in this series, but we just didn’t get it done,” he said. “Kamloops is a very good team and they fought really hard and blocked a lot of shots and battled very hard in front of their net to take away our scoring chances.
“I would be really disappointed if we didn’t play well, but that just wasn’t the case as we did play well enough to win and generated all kinds of scoring chances, but we didn’t bury our scoring chances and it cost us.”
His players were devastated after losing the series, but he has no doubt they will look back and have very fond memories of the 2014-15 season, said Law.
“They shouldn’t hang their heads at all,” he said. “Hockey is a tough game and somebody has to win and somebody has to lose and unfortunately for us, we came up short.
“This was a great group of kids who played their hearts out all season and they came up against a very talented team and just couldn’t score goals when we had found it so easy to score goals all season.”
Law didn’t waste any time getting ready for next season as he was travelling to the Alberta AA Midget Hockey Championships in Red Deer this past weekend to try and recruit some players for next year’s squad.
Even though as many as 17 players could return next season, Law expects 10 to 12 to be in the opening day lineup in September.
“I know a couple of guys are looking at going to school and a couple others should be able to make the jump to Junior A,” he said. “I think we’ll have 10 to 12 kids back next year and that will give us a real good foundation to have another really good hockey team next season.”
In his five seasons behind the bench, the Coyotes have captured a league championship in his first year and been to the conference finals the past three years, so Law is confident the organization is doing things right.
“We had a great season this year and I know all of the players had plans on winning a championship, but they should be proud of what they accomplished,” he said. “Only one team can win it all and we all really thought it was going to be our turn this year, but Kamloops is a very good hockey team and we tried out best and that’s all you can ask.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
With six attackers and their goalie pulled, the Osoyoos Coyotes turned up the heat in the final minute of the game, but failed to score. (Richard McGuire photo)
Seconds after the final buzzer, Kamloops Storm players gathered to celebrate their victory. (Richard McGuire photo)
Osoyoos Coyote players congratulate each other on a great season, but their disappointment is obvious. (Richard McGuire photo)
The Kamloops Storm and Osoyoos Coyotes meet at centre ice to offer each other congratulations on a well-played series. (Richard McGuire photo)
