This afternoon the Summerland Steam took to home ice against the Spokane Braves. The Braves came into the Summerland Arena riding high off a 7-0 drubbing of the Kelowna Chiefs on Saturday night. They also put the boots to the North Okanagan Knights on Friday night, winning that one 5-3.
The Steam fell in overtime to the Kamloops Storm on Saturday night and came out on this Sunday afternoon with something to prove. They got off to a slow start, however, as Brett Huber had to hold the Steam in the game in the first period facing 17 Braves' shots. Near the end of the period the Braves opened the scoring on a powerplay, as Sean Collins was the benefactor of a bouncing puck that came in from the point. It fell right onto his stick and he put it past a sprawling Brett Huber who was looking for the puck.
That was the only scoring to be had in the first period as the Steam were heartily outshot 17-6. Brett Huber was the story as he was solid throughout the entire game, holding the Braves to two goals on 32 Braves shots in a game that was dominated by the Braves in the early going.
It didn't take long for the Steam to get into penalty trouble in the second period, and at one point the Steam had penalties stacked on top of one another. The Spokane Braves managed one goal on a 5-on-3 man advantage as Kyle Davis found a wide open Dillon Bogart at the side of the net to extend the Braves' lead to 2-0.
When the Steam finally played themselves out of penalty trouble they got a powerplay of their own, and the Steam's leading and most dependable offensive threat, Kienan Scott, pulled them within one with just over 2 minutes to play in the second period.
As the third period started the Steam came out firing on all cylinders. Just three minutes into the period, the Steam's emotional leader, Olli Dickson, pulled the Steam even on a broken play that saw the puck squirt loose to the side of the net for him to poke past Braves goaltender Zach Straza.
The score stayed tied and these two teams were destined for overtime until Dylan Burton was the beneficiary of a bounce at the side of the net which he potted to give the Steam a 3-2 lead. Once the Steam took the lead the Braves really put their foot on the gas pedal. They spent the last 2 minutes of the game in the Summerland end of the ice until with :42 seconds remaining on the clock Kienan Scott got his second of the night, putting a puck into the empty Spokane net from center ice to round) out the scoring.
3 STARS
3) #1 ZACH STRAZA (SPO)
2) BRETT HUBER (SS)
1) KIENAN SCOTT (SS)
Olli Dickson, Kienan Scott, Paulsen Lautard, and Sam Nigg all contributed to what turned out to be a tidy 4-2 win for the Summerland Steam. The Steam took 3 of a possible 4 points from their 2 games on the weekend and improved their strength in the standings, despite not gaining any ground. By this of course I mean they kept up. The teams above them all played this weekend as well which means they still hold three games in hand on the rest of the division.
They will play a mid week game this week on Wednesday night as they hop on the bus and go to Armstrong to face the North Okanagan Knights, the team directly above them in the standings. They will return home Friday night to face the Chase Heat at the Summerland Arena.
Be sure to jump on KIJHL.ca and follow the team on the road as well as at home on the webcasts!
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