KNIGHTS NEED EVERY SECOND TO DERAIL STREAKING STEAM

On Wednesday night the Summerland Steam took to the road to face the North Okanagan Knights at the Nor-Val Arena in Armstrong. It was the second meeting in days and the sixth of the season series. The Steam came in on a 6 game winning streak while the Knights were trying to bump a 3 game slump of their own that started with a 6-5 loss to the Steam on Friday night. It was a tightly contested game, just like the other 5 games of the season series, and this time it was the North Okanagan Knights coming out on top 4-3.

The Knights' leading scorer, Brett Hawrys, opened the scoring 4:08 into the opening frame. Dennon Leibel and Matthew Halvorson drew assists on the early Hawrys goal. Halvorson then doubled the lead on a late period powerplay with assists going to Morgan Johnston and Logan Geefs.

In the second period there were no goals scored, but lots of chances. The Steam outshot the Knights 12-7 in the period, but got a strong performance from Zach Dyment to keep their lead at 2-0.

In the third the Steam got an early powerplay and cashed in as Dylan Burton got them on the board. Sam Nigg would then score shorthanded and unassisted just over a minute later to tie the game at 2. With just over 8 minutes to go in the third period, Brett Hawrys struck again as he restored the lead for the Knights. It would stay that way until there was just over a minute remaining in the game when Kienan Scott scored his 31st of the season to tie the game at 3. Just when the game looked to be headed to overtime, the Knights weren't done. Captain TJ Christensen managed to put one behind Steam goaltender Darrren Hogg with just .3 seconds on the clock to give his team the 4-3 lead and the victory.

The loss leaves the Steam heading into the weekend with a 7 point cushion on either side of them in the standings. They trail the Kelowna Chiefs by 7 points with a game in hand, and lead the Osoyoos Coyotes by 7 points also with a game in hand. They return home this Friday night, February 7th, to face the Revelstoke Grizzlies before traveling to Sicamous to face the Eagles on Saturday night.