With two weekend wins, Coyotes extend winning streak to three games

With two weekend wins, the Osoyoos Coyotes extended their winning streak to three games.

On Friday night, the Coyotes shut out the Braves 2-0 in Spokane. The following night, they beat the Posse 6-2 in Princeton. The two wins came on the heels of a thrilling 4-3 double-overtime win over Columbia Valley the previous weekend, which ended a long winless streak for Osoyoos. The Coyotes now have nine points and are fourth in the Okanagan Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League with three points more than the North Okanagan Knights. The Coyotes are scheduled to play the Posse again Tuesday night at the Sun Bowl Arena, but the outcome of that game wasn’t known when the Osoyoos Times went to press. Daniel Paul played in net for the Coyotes in both weekend games, earning the shutout Friday night and holding the Posse at bay until the final minutes of the third period Saturday.

In Friday’s game against Spokane, there were only two goals and surprisingly few penalties. In fact both teams only had two chances to deploy their power plays, with Osoyoos the only team to capitalize on one of those chances. That goal, the opening goal of the game, was scored by Brock Marple during the final minute of play in the first period. Peter Michailides and Adam Diotte got the assists. The second period stayed scoreless. With six minutes remaining in the third period, Daelen Der scored the Coyotes’ second goal. Cole Rezka and Diotte assisted. The two teams were evenly matched for shots on goal with both teams getting 33. Likewise, they were matched in penalties, with both teams getting eight minutes. In Saturday’s Princeton game, Michailides picked up a hat trick, including one goal while the Coyotes were shorthanded and another on a power play. Bryson Garska opened the scoring five minutes into the first period with an unassisted goal. Then with six minutes remaining in the period, Blake Astorino made it 2-0 for the Coyotes. Marple assisted. The second period stayed scoreless. In the third period, Michailides scored three goals in the space of just over six minutes. His first goal was assisted by Brandon Della Paolera and Garska. Two minutes later, his shorthanded goal was unassisted. Then his power-play goal was assisted by Garska and Seth Kriese. Between Michailides’ first and second goals, Rezka also scored for the Coyotes, assisted by Tyler Badger and Astorino. Only with 6:22 remaining in the third period did Princeton finally get onto the scoreboard with an unassisted goal by Lane French. Just over two minutes later, Achille Casali scored a second goal for the Posse, but it was too little, too late. After their Tuesday night game with Princeton at the Sun Bowl Arena, which starts at 7:35 p.m., the Coyotes play next in Armstrong this Friday against the North Okanagan Knights. They return on Saturday, Nov. 3 to host the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. Both the Knights and the Thunder Cats are at the bottoms of their respective divisions.