Wednesday night’s Game Two of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference Final in Osoyoos was fast, physical and darned entertaining hockey. The only negative was a 3-2 setback to Revelstoke, who now leads the Best-of-Seven Series 2-0.
Following a scoreless first period, the Grizzlies counted the lone goal of the second.
Blake Astorino tied the game 1-1 just under four minutes into the third, however less than six minutes later, Revelstoke had gone ahead 3-1. Zachary Park drew the Coyotes back to within one on the powerplay with 6:41 remaining. Osoyoos pushed hard, failing to capitalize on a late four minute man advantage, as well as with goaltender Kenny Marquart on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.
Playing without the suspended Nathan Hannon, Kaleb Kremp and Payton McDonald-Corea, in addition to an injured Crae Dawson, the Coyotes left absolutely nothing on the table, outshooting the Grizzlies 33-26, including 14-8 over the final 20 minutes.
Marquart suffered his second straight loss in net.
Not having dropped three-in-a-row all season, Osoyoos will need to continue that trend in order to not find itself on the verge of playoff elimination.
Games Three and Four take place Friday night (Mar. 18th) and Saturday night (Mar. 19th) respectively at the vintage Revelstoke Forum, a building renown for being one of the most difficult places to play for opposition teams.
