Photos by Richard McGuire
When you’re playing in close hockey games, the ability to score with the man advantage is often the difference between winning and losing.
The Osoyoos Coyotes continued to struggle on the power play as they dropped two close road games in 100 Mile House and Chase this past weekend.
The Coyotes scored a single goal in 15 opportunities on the power play, including going 1 for 10 against 100 Mile House, as they dropped a 3-2 decision to the hometown Wranglers last Friday evening.
Their struggles with the man advantage continued the following night in Chase as they dropped a 2-1 decision and failed to score any goals on the power play.
The Coyotes did manage to get into the win column last Wednesday night during an impressive 7-2 victory over the Summerland Steam on home ice.
Following weekend action, the Coyotes’ record dropped to 7-4-1, which keeps them in first place in their division by a single point over the Summerland Steam.
Against Summerland, Braeden Tuck scored 20 seconds into the game and the Coyotes never trailed the rest of the way.
After Summerland scored early to tie things up, the Coyotes exploded for three unanswered goals in the second period and three more in the third period, before the Steam scored a late goal to close the scoring.
Austin Cleaver, Daniel Stone and Tuck, with his second goal of the game, scored in the second period for the Coyotes.
Cleaver scored his second early in the third, while Bobby LaRue and Rainer Glimpel scored in the third period.
In 100 Mile House, Reid Wilson gave the Coyotes the lead three minutes into the game, but the hometown Wranglers tied things up with a shorthanded goal late in the period.
After the Wranglers scored the lone goal of the middle period, the Coyotes tied it up with 10 minutes to go as Levi Morin scored the only power play goal of the weekend.
The Wranglers won the game with a power play goal of their own with less than three minutes to play.
Against Chase, Hunter Johnson scored three minutes into the contest to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead, but it would end up being all the goals they would score on the night.
Chase tied it up late in the first period with a power play goal and scored early in the second period to take a 2-1 lead, which held the rest of the way.
The Coyotes outshot Chase 40-20 over three periods of play.
The Coyotes hope to snap their two-game losing streak this weekend, but it’s not going to be easy as they play the league-leading Kamloops Storm, who have lost only one game in regulation time, Friday night in Kamloops.
They then travel to Armstrong to play the North Okanagan Knights Sunday afternoon.
The Coyotes return home on Wednesday, Oct. 28 to battle the Grand Forks Border Bruins at the Sun Bowl Arena. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
By Keith Lacey
