Princeton Posse’ goaltender Sky Buller pads a shot from Osoyoos Coyotes’ centre Alex Jewell during a game at the Sun Bowl Arena on Saturday, Feb. 11. With a flurry of goals late in the third, the Coyotes went on to win the game by a score of 5-1. Photo by Mathew White.
With only two games left in the regular season, the Osoyoos Coyotes continued to dominate this week, extending their perfect February winning-steak to five consecutive games.
The Coyotes squeaked out a 3-2 over-time win over the Penticton Lakers Wednesday, before downing the Kelowna Chiefs 6-2 Friday night and pounding the Princeton Posse 5-1 Saturday night.
“Overall we knew it was going to be a tough game against Princeton, I mean it’s no surprise every time we play them,” said Ryan Gray, assistant coach with the Coyotes, after Saturday night’s game. “That’s about as realistic of a scenario as we could hope for for playoff preparation. It went right down to the end and it proved to us that we’re doing the right things and the guys can face adversity and pull together.”
Saturday’s game against the Posse got off to a very slow start, with a lot of whistles and neutral-zone action, but nothing happened on the scoreboard. Gray said he wasn’t surprised by the game’s slow start and said he’s proud of the way the boys handled themselves.
“It’s always a good battle between us and Princeton; usually it’s a high-scoring competition,” said Gray. “So it was good to see our guys … making smart decisions, great plays, great passing and making the smart choice every time.”
It wasn’t until there was just under seven minutes left in the first that the pack were finally able to open up the scoring after a great one-timer by Kam Crawford. The assist went to Alex Jewell.
Shortly after the Coyotes took their second penalty of the night, but Cole Buckley did an amazing job of keeping the visitors off the scoreboard, even managing to stop a penalty shot before the period let out.
“You couldn’t ask more of the kid,” said Gray. “He definitely answered the bell here for us the last couple of games. He’s been a huge difference. The breakaway saves, the penalty shots and even the small things.”
The second period played out a lot like the first, with very little action on the scoreboard. Instead, all the action could be found between the pipes, where both goalies were really putting on a show for the crowd.
Gray said Princeton’s goalie definitely deserves some credit for the lack of scoring throughout the second.
With less than four minutes left, and down a man after being called for hooking, the Posse got a rare opportunity and took full advantage, with Alex Demchuk scoring shorthanded and putting his team on the board just before the period let out.
With the third well underway, it was starting to look like things might be going to overtime as the clock continued to count down. Both teams managed to kill off a few penalties to start the period, but nothing too significant happened until the last few minutes of play.
With six minutes and 42 seconds left on the clock, the Coyotes found their groove and unleashed a scoring frenzy on the Posse.
Dexter Dancs started the madness with the pack’s second of the night. Nine seconds later, Garrett Kucher banged in another one, prompting the Posse to call a timeout.
But nothing was going to stop the Coyote freight train, and less than two minutes later, Nick Kapusty put in his first of the night after a mad scramble in front of the Posse’ net. And finally, with just over a minute left in the game, Kapusty put in his second of the night, bringing the pack’s lead to 5-1 and securing Saturday night’s victory.
“We definitely put in our time and I honestly believe our conditioning was that much better,” said Gray. “It just started to show at the end. Our forwards were picking up that second wind where their defencemen were flat-footed. We just beat them with speed.”
The Coyotes’ record now sits at 30-17-1-2 in the KIJHL Okanagan Division. This week will see the pack’s last two regular season games as they host the Summerland Steam Friday night before heading to Penticton to face the Lakers Saturday.
The Coyotes will open the playoffs at the Sun Bowl Arena on Friday, Feb. 24. It is not known at this point who the opposing team will be.
