The Osoyoos Coyotes have played all their recent games on the road. Pictured here, in their last home-ice game against 100 Mile House, Carter Shannon almost scores on a breakaway. The Yotes finally get a home game on Saturday against Revelstoke. (Richard McGuire file photo)
The Osoyoos Coyotes won two games and lost one in the past week to hang onto the middle spot in the Okanagan Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL).
All three games were played on the road.
Last Wednesday, the Coyotes made it 3-1 over the North Okanagan Knights in Armstrong, scoring on the empty net with 29 seconds remaining.
On Friday, Osoyoos was defeated 3-2 by the Posse in Princeton, hurt by numerous penalties and the Princeton power play.
The following night in Kelowna, the Coyotes defeated the Chiefs 4-2, once again capitalizing on an empty net goal in the final minute.
With the added four points from the two wins, the Coyotes remain in third place in their division with 23 points. That’s just one point behind Princeton and five points behind the division-leading Summerland Steam. Both Princeton and Summerland have played more games.
In last Wednesday’s game in Armstrong, Connor Onstein opened the scoring on a power play late in the first period. Austin Cleaver and Kaleb Comishin assisted.
The second period remained scoreless with both teams roughly matched for shots on goal.
In the third period, Judd Repole made it 2-0, assisted by Colin Bell and Carter Shannon.
Late in the period, the Knights managed to ruin Coyotes’ goalie Liam Aitken’s hopes of a shutout, and the game went into the final minute with the Coyotes up 2-1.
The Knights pulled goalie Zach Willms for an extra attacker, but the move backfired when Bell put the goal into the empty net. Shannon assisted.
In Friday’s Princeton game, the Coyotes outshot the Posse 48-30, but they had trouble turning those shots into goals.
It didn’t help that Osoyoos played much of the game with players in the penalty box, especially during a nasty third period.
Princeton capitalized on two of 13 power plays while the Coyotes failed to connect on any of their five.
Princeton opened the scoring near the halfway mark of the first period. Six minutes later, Hunter Johnson scored unassisted for the Coyotes to end the period in a 1-1 tie.
The Posse scored two power play goals early in each of the second and third periods, giving them a 3-1 lead.
The Coyotes pulled goalie Aitken late in the third period for an extra attacker.
Shannon scored for Osoyoos with 1:41 remaining, assisted by Comishin, to narrow the gap. But the Coyotes were unable to add a tying goal.
On Saturday in Kelowna, the Coyotes scored two goals just 10 seconds apart in the first period to give themselves a 2-0 lead.
Sam Reinbolt scored with 10:43 remaining, assisted by Nick Nordstrom and Johnson.
Brandon Onstein then scored unassisted, 10 seconds after the faceoff.
The Chiefs bounced back early in the second period when Myles Mattila scored two quick goals to tie the game at 2-2.
Connor Onstein put the Coyotes back into the lead later in the period, assisted by Shannon and Comishin.
The score remained 3-2 for most of the third period.
The Chiefs then pulled goalie Aris Anagnostopoulos for an extra attacker. The move backfired when Repole scored on the empty net with 44 seconds remaining, making it 4-2. Carter Robinson and Bell assisted.
The Coyotes have just one game in the coming week when they host the Revelstoke Grizzlies at the Sun Bowl on Saturday. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
