It took six games, three of them going into overtime, to determine the winner of Junior B hockey playoff action between the Summerland Steam and the Osoyoos Coyotes.
The Coyotes won the series with a victory over the Steam on Friday, March 11 in the Bill Ohlhausen Division Finals in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL).
Going into playoff action, the first-place Coyotes had defeated the fourth-place Princeton Posse in five games in the division semifinals, while the third-place Steam had won against the second-place Kelowna Chiefs in five games in their semifinals series.
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In regular season action, the Coyotes had a record of 33 wins, three losses, two overtime losses and four shutout losses while the Steam had finished the regular season with 22 wins, 16 losses, two overtime losses and two shutout losses.
During regular season hockey action the two teams had met up eight times, with Osoyoos winning all eight of these games.
Osoyoos 4 — Summerland 3 (Osoyoos 1-0)
On Friday, March 4, the Steam and the Coyotes met up for their first game in playoff action, with the Coyotes earning a 4-3 win in overtime.
After a scoreless first period, the Steam began scoring with three consecutive goals in the second period. The first was by Tristan Weill, assisted by Zach Evanoff; the second was by Austin Cameron assisted by Michael Greenwood and Ethan Swift and the third was an unassisted shorthanded goal by Evanoff.
The Coyotes responded with a goal by Alex Ochitwa, assisted by Josh Bourchier, to close off the second period.
In the third period, the Coyotes added two goals to bring the game to a tie. The first was by Crae Dawson, assisted by Jarrod Gale and Johnny Jenkinson. The next was by Ochitwa, assisted by Ethan McKinley and Payton McDonald-Corea.
Zachary Park scored the winning goal at 6:45 in overtime Kaleb Kremp and Ethan Floris assisted.
Summerland 6 — Osoyoos 5 (series tied at one)
On Saturday, March 6, the Steam returned to Osoyoos to capture a 6-5 overtime win.
Jack Henderson of the Coyotes opened the scoring with a power play goal, assisted by McDonald-Corea and McKinley.
Jack Lynes of the Steam responded with a power play goal of his own, assisted by Weill and Cole Waldbillig.
Weill then added a goal to bring the Steam into the lead, assisted by Evanoff.
In the second period, the Steam scored twice, first by Jackson MacDonald, assisted by Jacob Obuck, and a power play goal by Haiden Parks, assisted by Weill and Waldbillig.
Henderson then added a power play goal for the Coyotes, assisted by Ochitwa and McDonald-Corea.
In the third period, Osoyoos scored three times, first by McKinley, assisted by Ochitwa and Henderson, then by Ochitwa, assisted by McDonald-Corea and Henderson and then by Kremp, assisted by Zachary Park and Levi Brewer.
Grayson Chell of the Steam tied the game late in the third period, assisted by Jackson MacDonald.
Nate McIsaac scored the winning goal in overtime for the Steam, assisted by MacDonald and Parks.
Summerland 4 — Osoyoos 3 (Summerland 2-1)
On Monday, March 7, the Steam defeated the Coyotes 4-3 at the Summerland Arena.
Scoring opened with a power play goal for the Steam by Parker Konneke, assisted by Weill and Waldbillig.
Osoyoos responded with a goal by Krem, assisted by Badger and Brewer.
Konneke brought Summerland into the lead with an unassisted goal late in the first period.
In the second period, Evanoff, assisted by Michael Greenwood, added a goal for the Steam.
Ethan McKinley of Osoyoos responded with two goals. The first was assisted by Jack Henderson and Ochitwa, while the second was assisted by Henderson and McDonald-Corea.
Konneke scored the final goal for the Steam win, assisted by Waldbillig. The third period was scoreless.
Osoyoos 5 — Summerland 3 (series tied at two)
The two teams met up again on Tuesday, March 8 in Summerland. The Coyotes won in a 5-3 decision.
The Coyotes took the lead with two unanswered goals in the first period, by McKinley and by Park.
In the second period, Tyler Badger opened scoring with a goal 19 seconds into the period.
The Steam responded with three goals, two by Grayson Chell and one by Swift.
Park added a goal to regain the Coyotes’ lead. In the third period, McKinley added an unassisted goal to end the game.
Osoyoos 2 — Summerland 1 (Osoyoos 3-2)
On March 10, the Coyotes won a 2-1 victory over the Steam on home ice in Osoyoos.
The Steam took the lead in the first period with a goal by Jackson MacDonald, assisted by Brody Elchyson and Haiden Parks.
In the second period, the Coyotes tied the game with a goal by Tegan Neuman, assisted by Jarrod Gale and Jack Henderson.
The final goal, at 14:46 in the third period, came when Ryan Bester of the Coyotes scored with assists by McDonald-Corea and Josh Bourchier.
Osoyoos 2 — Summerland 1 (Osoyoos wins series 4-2)
On March 11, the Coyotes earned a 2-1 overtime win over Summerland to conclude the playoff series. The game was held at the Summerland arena.
After a scoreless first period, the Steam took the lead with a goal by Lynes, assisted by Konneke and Weill.
The Coyotes tied the game with an unassisted goal by Henderson in the third period.
The deciding goal for the Coyotes came at 19:59 in overtime when Park scored, with assists by Kremp and Ethan O’Rourke.
The Coyotes will now face the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the third round of playoff action as they compete in the Okanagan-Shuswap Finals.
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