Hunter Arntsen (pictured above) turned aside 54 of 55 shots in backstopping the Osoyoos Coyotes to a 2-1 victory over the Merritt Centennials, Saturday night before a boisterous Sun Bowl Arena holiday crowd.
It was pretty much a must win for Osoyoos, who pulled to within 10 points of fourth place Merritt in the race for the Bill Ohlhausen Division’s final playoff spot. The Coyotes also hold a pair of games in-hand on the Centennials as the teams prepare to meet again on New Year’s Eve day in Merritt.
Logan Messer and Russell Weatherhead on the powerplay scored the Osoyoos goals, each coming early in the first two periods. Mason Rudolph and Spencer Fleck assisted on both.
Arntsen was called upon often to make a number of remarkable saves, many with the Coyotes shorthanded. The Centennials went zero for eight on the man advantage. Shots were 55-34 in favour of Merritt.
Following Tuesday afternoon’s (Dec. 31st) re-match, Osoyoos has a couple of extremely tough tests, Friday night (Jan. 3rd) at Princeton, prior to hosting Revelstoke next Saturday night (Jan. 4th).
