The Osoyoos Coyotes may have been beaten 5-1 by Columbia Valley, Saturday night in Invermere, but the final score is quite deceiving.
Osoyoos only trailed 2-1, right up until the 16:24 mark of the third period. That’s when the Rockies potted an insurance goal to go in front 3-1. From that point forward, goaltender Hunter Arntsen spent much of the remaining time on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, during which Columbia Valley added a pair of empty net goals, making the end result appear worse than it actually was.
After a scoreless first period, the Rockies tallied twice in two-and-a-half minutes early in the second, before Asher Makway responded toward the end of period two, cutting the deficit in half, something the Coyotes did their best to overcome, until Columbia Valley pulled away late.
The boxscore shots were (an exaggerated) 55-25 for the Rockies, with Arntsen suffering the loss in net.
Certainly not a bad outcome of an always difficult East Kootenay road trip. Osoyoos played well both nights in gaining a weekend split.
The Coyotes visit Kelowna next Friday night (Jan. 19th) and travel to North Okanagan the following night, Saturday (Jan. 20th), a pair of extremely important Bill Ohlhausen Division encounters.
