Jarrod Gale scored 2:31 into three-on-three overtime to give Osoyoos a 6-5 road victory over the Creston Valley Thunder Cats on Friday night.
The Coyotes certainly took a roundabout way of getting there, trailing 3-1 after the opening period, while being dominated 17-5 on the shot clock.
A greatly improved second period saw Osoyoos tally three times in just 3:10, including twice in 17-seconds, to take a 4-3 lead to the third.
That increased to 5-3, less than four minutes into period three. The Thunder Cats got to within a goal a short time later and pressuring hard with their netminder on the bench for an extra attacker, eventually managed to tie the game with only two-seconds left in regulation time.
However, the Coyotes didn’t crumble, despite the thought of more late game heartbreak, similar to what Grand Forks did with just six-seconds remaining, six days ago at the Sun Bowl.
Bronson Seymour, James Poole, Rylan Konecsni, Nelson Webster and Caden Cygan provided the rest of the offence. Levi Brewer added a pair of assists. Hayden Lee was excellent in net, even though he allowed five goals as Osoyoos was outshot 47-25.
The huge away result moves the Coyotes six points ahead of Summerland in the race for the Bill Ohlhausen Division’s final playoff spot. Osoyoos is also only three points behind third place Kelowna and just four points back of second place North Okanagan.
A short East Kootenay road trip wraps up tomorrow night (Jan. 13th) at Columbia Valley.
