This was the scene in late March as the Osoyoos Coyotes came up just short in the deciding game against Chase Heat in the KIJHL conference final series. The Coyotes were only one second away from winning the series the previous night in Chase. Training camp for the 2017-18 season begins next Thursday. (Richard McGuire file photo)

After coming within one second of advancing to the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) championship series four months ago, the Osoyoos Coyotes have some unfinished business as they prepare to begin training camp for the 2017-18 season.

The Coyotes will begin training camp next Thursday, Aug. 24 with approximately 40 players expected to attend camp, said head coach and general manager Ken Law, who is heading into his eighth consecutive season as the leader of the franchise.

Law said it’s still painful to recall that the Coyotes came within one tick of the clock from advancing to the KIJHL championship series.

After wining the first two games on home ice and looking very impressive in doing so, the Coyotes held a one-goal lead in game three of the best-of-five conference final series against the Chase Heat. However, the Heat tied the game with three seconds left in the third period and won in overtime.

The next night, the Coyotes again led by one goal in the final seconds, before the Heat tied the game with less than one second remaining in regulation time and again won in overtime to force a fifth-and-deciding game in Osoyoos.

An emotionally-drained Coyotes squad had virtually nothing left in the tank as they dropped a 3-1 decision to Chase in the deciding game.

With as many as 14 returning players coming back this season, Law said he will use the crushing series defeat to Chase as motivation to get his team over the top and back to the league championship series.

“Can’t wait to get started,” said Law.

Colin Bell, one of the league’s leading scorers, will return to the Coyotes, but only after firefighting season finishes in October as his contract as a provincial forest fighter doesn’t wrap up until the first or second week in October, said Law.

Judd Repole, another top offensive threat, will return for a fifth season as well, he said.

Goaltender Liam Aitken is expected to be the No. 1 puckstopper, but might not return if he earns a spot with Melfort in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, he said.

This will be a bigger and tougher team than Coyotes’ fans have witnessed over the past several years, said Law.

Two 17-year-old players from Terrace, which has become a hotbed for developing players who don the Coyotes’ jersey over the past five years, will bring skill, size and toughness to the lineup, said Law.

Gianni Cormano, who is six-foot-four and 270 pounds, is a talented forward, while five-foot-four, 230-pound defenceman Greg Kennedy, will make an immediate impact, he said.

Players will undergo fitness testing when they report for the first day of training camp next Thursday, before being split into two groups for a scrimmage.

There will be scrimmages all day Friday and another on Saturday morning, before the first exhibition game takes place Saturday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Sun Bowl Arena against Princeton.

Princeton will host an exhibition game the following night.

Law expects to reduce the roster to under 30 players by Monday morning and expects 25 players to remain in town heading towards the season opener on Sept. 8 in Chase.

Former Coyotes defender Brendan Watson and Carl Poole will return as assistant coaches. Thierry Martine, a former Coyotes’ captain and assistant coach the past two years, will not be back as he’s been accepted to attend the University of Victoria.

Law is expecting another solid season from his team.

“We might get off to a little slower start this year with so many new kids coming in, but I expect us to grow as a team and be real strong once again heading down the stretch,” he said.

The Coyotes will play road games for three weeks before their season opener on Sept. 24 against Kamloops.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times