The final score was 3-0 for the Mustangs, but what happened in Williams Lake on Saturday night had a couple of unique and questionable storylines.
After a scoreless first period, the Mustangs got on the board at the 12:17 mark of the second period with the strangest of goals.
Osoyoos backstop Sam Koester started to skate behind his net to corral a puck shot from centre ice he thought was going to rim around the boards. However, it hit a stanchion on the glass and ricocheted into the empty net. Despite one of the linesmen having his arm clearly raised for a delayed offside, the goal counted.
Fast forward to late in the third period. With Williams Lake still leading 1-0, a delayed penalty to the Coyotes was being called. An Osoyoos player touched the puck at which point play should have been whistled down, but it wasn’t and the Mustangs eventually tallied to go ahead 2-0.
With the aforementioned given food for thought, the outcome could have been very different.
The third Williams Lake goal was into an empty net with Koester on the bench for an extra attacker. Something that obviously wouldn’t have happened in a scoreless game.
Unfortunately for the Coyotes, there’s not much to do other than take solace in knowing they played a pretty darned good road game and probably deserved a better fate.
Shots were 34-33 in favour of Osoyoos, who was blanked for only the second time this season.
The Coyotes will try to salvage two out of three in the Cariboo, Sunday afternoon (Dec. 14th) at 100 Mile House.
