Trailing by a goal in the third period in their biggest game of the season so far, the Osoyoos Coyotes played their best hockey of the season by scoring four unanswered goals in just over 10 minutes on their way to a big win over the Summerland Steam Saturday night in front of an appreciative hometown crowd.
The Coyotes and Steam were tied for first place in their division entering Saturday’s big showdown, so the big 5-2 victory placed the Coyotes back in first place, with a game in hand over the Steam.
Following an impressive 5-0 victory Friday evening in Enderby against the North Okanagan Knights, the Coyotes now possess a seven-game winning streak and the third-best record in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) with a record of 18-5 at the halfway mark of the 47-game regular season schedule.
Only Creston (19-4-1) and Beaver Valley (18-3-1), which both play in the Kootenay Conference, have better records than the Coyotes midway through the regular season.
The Steam and Coyotes have been locked in a battle for first place since the beginning of the 2016-17 regular season began in early September.
Following a scoreless first period against Summerland, the Steam scored two goals 40 seconds apart midway through the second period to grab a 2-0 lead.
But that would be the last time they hit the scoreboard on this evening.
Brayden Durante scored a crucial goal two minutes after Summerland’s second goal to narrow the lead to 2-1 after 40 minutes of action.
It was all Coyotes in a wild third period as they tied the game with a power play goal by Colin Bell seven minutes into the third period.
The hometown crowd of 340 went crazy four minutes later when Colin Bell gave the Coyotes their first lead of the night, with assists from Austin Steger and Daniel Stone.
Connor Onstein extended the lead to 4-2 four minutes later and Ryan Roseboom completed the impressive comeback with another assist from Stone with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
The Coyotes fired an incredible 28 shots on goals in the third period blitz and ended up outshooting the Steam by a total of 48-33 over 60 minutes of play.
The victory provided a small measure of revenge for the Coyotes as they were defeated by the Steam in the second round of last year’s playoffs after accumulating one of the best regular season records in league history, losing only nine of 52 regular season games.
Friday night in Enderby, where the Knights play the odd regular season game instead of their usual home in Armstrong, the Coyotes got off to a quick start with goals by Steger and Stone in the first period and were never threatened.
Steger added a power play goal in the second period to extend the lead to 3-0 and Kyle Rosolowski and Evan Della-Paolera scored goals in the third period as the Coyotes waltzed to the shutout victory.
Della-Paolera is an Osoyoos product who played all of his minor hockey in the South Okanagan Minor Hockey Association.
Adam Jones made 23 saves to record the shutout for the Coyotes.
Coyotes’ forwards Colin Bell, Daniel Stone and Judd Repole now stand seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, in league scoring. Bell has 14 goals and 22 assists in 22 games, while Stone has 11 goals and 24 assists in 23 games and Repole has seven goals and 28 assists in 23 games.
The goaltending tandem of Liam Aitken and Adam Jones stand second in the league, allowing only 52 goals against in 23 games.
Head coach and general manager Ken Law and his squad return to action Saturday night at home against defending league champion 100 Mile House Wranglers.
It is their only game this coming weekend. Game time is 7:35 p.m. at the Sun Bowl Arena.
They also host North Okanagan Knights next Wednesday, Dec. 7 at the Sun Bowl Arena, before travelling to Sicamous next Friday and Revelstoke on Saturday. Game time on Wednesday night is also 7:35 p.m.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
