SCOTT KOCH
CONTRIBUTOR
The KIJHL schedule found the Chase Heat travelling to play this past weekend versus the Summerland Steam and Osoyoos Coyotes. The Desert Dogs are in first place in their division while the Summerland crew is in second.
Friday night the 17th was the first stop versus the Steam.
Chase got the only goal in the first period, a beauty from Seamus Collins assisted by Colton Nikiforuk and Grady Musgrave. In the second, Evan Hughes roofed another beauty assisted by Ryan Okino and Nikiforuk. In the third, the Steam got a power-play tally to make matters tense. But Chase finished them off with a pair of empty net counters, the first from Tyler Collens assisted by Jayce Schweizer and Seamus Collins, with the second going to Kolten Moore from Pat Brady and Michael Fidanza. Conor Webb in goal was spectacular, stopping 30 of 31 shots to earn first-star honours.
Saturday night the 18th the team travelled to Osoyoos to face last season’s Conference Championship foes, the Coyotes. Suffice to say, these two rivals have a fierce competition and, as a result, this contest had a playoff atmosphere.
The Osoyoos crew got on the board in less than two minutes on a miscue right in front of the Chase net.
However, the Heat came right back and tied the game on a nice goal from Kaden Black, helped by Gavin Mattey and Musgrave. The hot-handed Collins then scored on a three-way passing play from Moore and Zachary Fournier.
The Chase crew then got their third goal on another three-way passing play from Tyler Collens, assisted by Moore and Collins. At the end of 20 it was 3-1 and things were looking good.
Then the wheels fell off, the transmission blew and the gas tank was on empty.
The boys from the Shuswap lost their competitive edge and the Coyotes scored three times in the second 20 to take a 4-3 lead.
In the third the collapse continued, with the Desert Dogs popping in a couple more. Fidanza scored on the power play late in the game from Nikiforuk and Brady, but it was too little too late. The final, a 6-4 loss, and a quiet bus ride home for a middle-of-the-night arrival back in Chase.
Two valuable points were realized to keep the 100 Mile House Wranglers in the rear view mirror. The Milers are the next visitors to the Art Holding Memorial Arena in a home-and-away series which could impact the pending playoff home -ice advantage.
The Wranglers are in Chase Friday night the 26th. Wear a Stetson or sombrero if so inclined, parking is free for your horse. This contest is guaranteed to be entertaining. See you there!