Osoyoos goaltender Kyle Laslo dives to rob Kelowna Chiefs player Colten DeFrias of a breakaway during the two teams’ meeting on Oct. 30. Photo by Jen Jensen - Click on picture for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 3, 2010
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The pack haunted the Kelowna Chiefs with an 11-1 win on Oct. 30 as they came out looking for payback following a double-overtime loss to Penticton the evening before.
On Oct. 29, the Coyotes faced off against the Penticton Lakers before a crowd of 439 for the first of two home games at the Sun Bowl Arena over the Halloween weekend.
Juicy scoring chances were missed by both teams in the first period including two power-play opportunities for Osoyoos, but the Coyotes were able to break the stalemate at the 17:07 mark in the second when Stefan Jensen took a rebound from Thierry Martine and buried it in the Penticton net on a power play.
At 9:16, Jake Newton put a hard shot past Penticton’s goaltender with help from Van Bettauer and Josh Gray.
The Lakers would not allow the pack to go into the third period with a two-goal lead, however, and at 7:58, Penticton’s Jeff Hodgkinson landed a straight shot past Osoyoos net-minder Billy McGladrey on a power play.
Penticton forced overtime play when Reilly O’Connor fired a shot that was deflected into the Osoyoos net off the skate of Steven Killy on a power play at 7:31 in the third.
In the second overtime period, Kyle Ambrosie blasted the puck past McGladrey from the left side of the Osoyoos net to hand the Coyotes their second overtime loss of the year.
The 3-2 Friday night loss was the first time this year the pack has lost two games in a row.
The next night, before the largest crowd of the season at the Sun Bowl at 446 people, the Coyotes shrugged the defeat off and battered Kelowna starting with a goal from Newton at just 29 seconds into the game with help from Jason Bell and Martine.
Sam Nigg was then able to cash in on a shot that was blocked by Kelowna goalie Jordan Bytelaar when he put the rebound between the pipes at 13:33 in the first to give the pack a 2-0 advantage.
A few moments later Osoyoos goalie Kyle Laslo made a heroic play halfway between the Coyotes net and centre ice when he dove to rob Kelowna player Colten DeFrias of a breakaway.
At 10:49 in the first, Carter Rigby fired a pass through traffic to Newton who was able to sneak the puck just behind Bytelaar for Osoyoos’s first power-play goal of the night.
The Coyotes then made the Chiefs pay for an interference penalty when Jensen scored 15 minutes and 33 seconds into the period.
That was it for Bytelaar and Conor Barrie was brought in to try and stop the bleeding.
But the Coyotes weren’t done with the first period pummelling and Rigby was able to roll the puck between Barrie’s skate and the goal post with one minute and 34 seconds left in the period thanks to assists from Brock Anderson and Nigg.
Osoyoos went into the second period up 5-0 and wasted little time in continuing the barrage when Barrie couldn’t keep his glove on a shot fired by Brandon Parrone which Taylor House was able to bury at 18:47.
At 12:55, Anderson scored his first goal of the night after he was able to push the puck past Barrie following an attempt from Nigg to find the back of the net from the goalie’s left side.
After House scored at 6:07 to put the Coyotes up 8-0, the Chiefs were finally able to beat Laslo when Landon Andrusiak scored, but by this point Kelowna’s back was broken.
Osoyoos continued its offensive in the third period and Bell was able to come into the Kelowna zone on his own and drive a shot home from the Chiefs’ red line at 9:14.
Davis Firlotte was able to find the back of Kelowna’s net 15 seconds later with a shot from a metre out in front of the Chiefs’ net making it a 10-1 lead for the Coyotes.
And Osoyoos wasn’t finished as Anderson was able to score once again on the power play.
The game ended with a convincing 11-1 victory for the pack, which now sits 14 points ahead of second-place Kelowna in the KIJHL’s Okanagan Division.
Osoyoos’s next game is at home on Nov. 6 against the Golden Rockets.
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