Troy Maclise swoops in on 100 Mile House goalie Kristian Stead in a recent Osoyoos home game. (Richard McGuire file photo)
The Osoyoos Coyotes are enjoying an eight-day break following another decisive win last Wednesday over the North Okanagan Knights.
The Coyotes beat the Knights 5-1 at the Sun Bowl Arena on Jan. 7, just three days after walloping the struggling team 4-0 in Armstrong.
Last Wednesday’s win leaves the Coyotes well ahead of other teams in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) with 67 points. An eight-day hiatus for the Coyotes, however, gives other teams a chance to narrow the gap.
The Knights are by far the worst team in the entire league, having only won five games out of 39 played this season. The Coyotes have three more chances for easy wins against this hapless team before the regular season finishes in a game between the two on Feb. 14.
In Wednesday’s game, the Coyotes opened the scoring on a power play late in the first period with Ryan Roseboom getting the goal and Troy Maclise the assist.
Both players had a strong game – Roseboom picked up a later assist to be named star of the game and Maclise ended the game with a goal and two assists.
Judd Repole scored late in the second period assisted by Roseboom and Daniel Stone.
Minutes later, Rainer Glimpel scored on a power play assisted by Stone and Darryl Senholt to end the second period 3-0.
The Knights fought back and managed their only goal of the game in the first half of the third period.
Any hope they might have had for a comeback was quickly dashed when Brett Jewell scored minutes later assisted by Blake Holowaty and Maclise.
The final Coyote goal was scored by Maclise unassisted with just over two minutes left in the game.
Surprisingly, the Knights actually outshot the Coyotes in both the first and third periods – a tribute to the goaltending of Brett Soles. In the second period, however, the Coyotes outshot the Knights 22-7 – more than three times what the Knights could manage.
The two teams face each other again on Wednesday, Jan. 21 in Armstrong, on Saturday Jan. 31 in Osoyoos and Saturday, Feb. 14 in Osoyoos.
The next game for the Coyotes is at 7:35 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16 at the Sun Bowl against the Kimberly Dynamiters.
Then on Sunday, Jan. 18 the Coyotes play the Summerland Steam at 1:35 p.m. at the Oliver Arena.
Including these games, the Coyotes have just 12 games left in the regular season.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
