The Osoyoos Coyotes battled right to the final seconds, but the Revelstoke Grizzlies found a way to take down the regular season champs, wrapping up the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference Final with a 3-2 home ice victory on Saturday night.
A surprising four game sweep, outside of the opening game of the series couldn’t have been any closer.
The Coyotes actually scored first on Saturday night, taking a 1-0 lead into the dressing room, thanks to Alex Ochitwa on the powerplay.
The Grizzlies came out hard in the second and were rewarded with a pair of early goals less than two-and-a-half minutes apart.
Jack Henderson tied things 2-2 at 18:01 of the middle period, setting up an anxious final 20 minutes.
At 5:26 of the third, Revelstoke converted on a ‘seeing eye shot’ from the blueline, which a screened Kenny Gerow couldn’t handle. That was the game winner and the goal that sent the Grizzlies to the KIJHL Final.
Ethan McKinley assisted on both Ochitwa’s and Henderson’s tallies. Osoyoos again outshot Revelstoke, this time by a 41-35 count, including 14-8 in the third period.
Congratulations to Head Coach Carter Rigby, his coaching and support staff on a tremendous season, turning around a program that went from 20th to 1st in just two years. Next season begins tomorrow!
