Austin Cooper (pictured above) tallied twice in helping the Osoyoos Coyotes double the Beaver Valley Nitehawks 4-2, Saturday night in Fruitvale.
With the exception of a 43 second span in the second period, you could say the Coyotes pretty much played a model road game. That was definitely a requirement in order to beat one of the KIJHL’s best teams, especially in their own building.
After a scoreless first period, Russell Weatherhead gave Osoyoos a 1-0 lead during a five-on-three powerplay less than a minute into the second.
The Coyotes went ahead 2-0, thanks to Austin Cooper, midway through the period.
Just when it looked as though Osoyoos was primed to pull away even further, the Nitehawks scored a pair of shorthanded goals only 43 seconds apart on the same Coyotes powerplay.
With momentum quickly shifting in the direction of the home side, Osoyoos was fortunate enough to escape the middle period tied 2-2.
Mason Rudolph connected on the man advantage with under nine minutes remaining in the third, before Austin Cooper’s last minute insurance marker into an empty net.
Finals shots were 49-32 in favour of Beaver Valley. Hunter Arntsen earned the netminding decision.
The outcome is no doubt a huge confidence builder for the Coyotes, who snapped a three game winless streak to improve to 7-8-0-1.
Osoyoos visits the Revelstoke Grizzlies next Friday night (Nov. 15th), prior to a four game homestand. That gets underway on Saturday night (Nov. 16th) at 7:00 against the Creston Valley Thunder Cats.
