It has been almost six months since the Osoyoos Coyotes played a meaningful game on home ice, so the players, coaching staff and loyal fans are all looking forward to Saturday night’s home opener against the Nelson Leafs.
The Coyotes will enter the home opener with a record of one win, one loss and one overtime loss.
It has been almost one month since training camp started and all of the players are excited about performing in front of a hometown crowd for the first time in the 2015-16 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) regular season, said head coach and general manager Ken Law.
It’s always exciting to play your first game of the year on home ice and he expects his players will be nervous, but excited about hitting the ice in front of a supportive crowd, said Law.
The Coyotes only have a handful of returning veterans from last year’s outstanding team, so local fans will be viewing more than a dozen newcomers for the first time.
The Coyotes started the season with a tough 3-2 loss to the Princeton Posse.
The Coyotes dominated the game for most of the entire 60 minutes of regulation time, but Princeton scored a power-play goal with less than 40 seconds to play to steal the victory.
After Princeton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, Carter Shannon scored the lone goal of the second period to bring the Coyotes to within a goal.
Scott Robinson, on an assist from team captain Rainer Glimpel, tied the game with a power-play goal with nine minutes remaining in regulation time.
The Coyotes outshot Princeton by a whopping 47-19 in the game. Goaltender Zakery Babin was outstanding in the Posse net.
The Coyotes got their first victory of the season this past Friday night in Summerland as they romped to an easy 6-2 victory over the Steam.
Rainer Glimpel scored 16 seconds into the game and rookie Bobby LaRue scored a shorthanded goal late in the first period to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
After Summerland scored to narrow the lead to one goal, Jackson Glimpel scored a power-play goal late in the second period to give the Coyotes a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Summerland again cut the lead to one goal with a goal in the first minute of the third period, but the Coyotes scored three unanswered goals in six minutes to waltz to victory. Braeden Tuck, Carter Robinson and Rainer Glimpel scored the goals.
The Coyotes then visited Fruitvale to take on the Beaver Valley Nitehawks Saturday evening.
Carter Shannon scored the lone goal of the first period to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.
Beaver Valley responded with the only two goals of the second period.
Rainer Glimpel tied things up with a power-play goal early in the third, before the Nitehawks took the lead two minutes later.
Daniel Stone scored a power-play goal for the Coyotes midway through the third period to tie things at 3-3.
It looked like the Coyotes would steal a victory when Rainer Glimpel scored with just over one minute remaining in regulation time.
However, the Nitehawks tied it up and forced overtime when they scored with only 23 seconds remaining.
The Nitehawks won the game 52 seconds into overtime.
The home opener against Nelson is the only game the Coyotes play this weekend.
They return to play Princeton next Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Game time Saturday night is 7:35 at the Sun Bowl Arena.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Coyotes
