STEAM TRAIN STOPPED BY KNIGHTS

The Summerland Steam played host on Tuesday night to the division rival North Okanagan Knights at the Summerland Arena. They were looking to climb over the Knights in the standings but instead took a step back, falling to the Knights by a score of 3-1. It was a very even game with many chances at each end, and both goaltenders were good and gave their teams a chance to win. The difference in the game by far was North Okanagan goaltender Zach Dyment who made 29 saves on 30 Summerland Steam shots to pick up the win and the 2 points for his team. His counterpart, Brett Huber, allowed 2 goals on 23 Knights' shots and was solid despite some sloppy defensive play by his teammates in their own zone.

It started off very well for the Steam as their leading scorer, Kienan Scott, opened the scoring early in the first period with a sharp angle shot that beat Dyment to give his team a 1-0 lead. The lead held until about the 16 minute mark of the period when a shot from Morgan Johnston eluded Brett Huber after finding it's way through a sea of bodies to tie the game at 1.

In the second period both goalie's stood tall as neither team could score while trading power plays throughout the period. The Steam had several opportunities on the power play in the period and failed to get set up on several of them, while the Knights had a couple of shots on their power play but were stifled by a solid penalty kill.

Both teams returned to the ice for the third period desperate to pick up the two points, and after several chances at either end Blake Culbert deposited a puck into the Steam net to give the Knights a 2-1 lead with 6:16 to go in the third period. The Steam had an opportunity with 2:45 left to tie the game when North Okanagan took 2 penalties on the same play, giving them a full 2 minutes of 5-on-3 man advantage. Unfortunately they were met by Zach Dyment in the Knights' crease and were not able to capitalize on the opportunity. With 1 second left on the game clock the Knights managed to ice the win with an empty net goal from Brett Hawrys.

Overall it was a tightly contested hockey game with the difference being the Knights' goaltender. The Steam looked a little unorganized in their own zone and a little disjointed on the power play, but those are two things they will look to work on in practice this week after being out of game action for the past ten days.

3 Stars:

3) #91 Kienan Scott (Summerland Steam)
2) #17 Morgan Johnston (North Okanagan Knights)
1) #30 Zach Dyment (North Okanagan Knights)


The Steam now trail the Knights in the standings by 3 points with one game in hand, and will look to rebound on Friday night when they welcome the Castlegar Rebels into the Summerland Arena. Puck drop will be at 7:30 and we will be on the air for the KIJHL webcast just prior to get you set with everything you need to know!