After the game on Friday night, which was an OT loss to the Golden Rockets, the Summerland Steam thought they deserved better. It was a hockey game in which Golden controlled the first 25 minutes of the hockey game before Summerland took over and thoroughly dominated the Rockets in the final 40 minutes, including overtime. Braeden Allkins scored for Golden in overtime to pick up the extra point for the Rockets, but in the Summerland Steam's view it wasn't for lack of trying. There were opportunities to end it in regulation for Summerland and there were opportunities to end it in Overtime as well, but instead it was Allkins who beat Brett Huber on a 3rd rebound and left a sour taste in the mouth of Huber and the Summerland Steam players.
On Sunday they showed just how much it bugged them, and even though they were unsuccessful finding a goal in the first 2 periods against the North Okanagan Knights, they were all over the Knights from the drop of the puck.There wasn't much flow, there wasn't much to speak of in the way of back and forth action or sustained pressure, but Summerland continued to exhibit the strong possession stats that they've shown over the first third of the KIJHL season. They fired nearly 30 shots on Knights' goaltender Mitch Profeit in the first 2 periods, but were still knotted at 0's headed to the third.
With all the shots headed towards the Knights' net, Steam goaltender Brett Huber didn't have an over-taxed afternoon, facing only 14 shots through the first 2 periods and 24 on the night. Having said that, there were a couple of occasions early in the game where Huber had to be sharp and alert to make sure the Knights didn't take an early lead.
In the third, the Steam were finally able to crack Mitch Profeit in the Knights' goal, as Lathan McKinney was able to find a shooting lane from the point and fire one through a crowd and behind Profeit to give the Steam a 1-0 lead. The goal marked McKinney's 3rd goal of the season as he was able to show off an extremely unique ability to walk the blue line, free up a lane and find a hole all in one swift motion.
Shortly after the McKinney goal, Coleton Fisher got on the scoreboard with his 3rd of the season as he was able to locate a rebound in front of Profeit off a Jack Mills shot. Fisher, also through a crowd, was able to beat Profeit from in tight and extend the lead to 2-0. Paulsen Lautard would be credited the 2nd assist on the goal after getting the puck to Mills for the original shot.
The two goal lead for the Steam would only last 48 seconds, however, as Zackari Andrusiak found his own rebound to the right of Brett Huber and broke the goose egg to give the Knights some life near the mid-mark of the third. The goal was quickly followed by 2 penalties from the Steam that put the Knights' on the powerplay, but luckily for the boys from the South Okanagan, they were able to kill both and get a bonus chance.
As the second penalty, to Paulsen Lautard, expired, the puck jumped out to center to send the Steam's leading scorer in alone on Mitch Profeit. Lautard made no mistake as he made a pretty forehand, backhand move before going upstairs under the bar on Profeit to regain the Steam their 2 goal lead and bring the score to 3-1.
Nelson Hurry would add another with just over 4 minutes to play as he found a puck off a turnover and ripped it over a stunned Profeit. The Hurry goal would be the last in a penalty-filled 4-1 victory for the Summerland Steam, who will now have a full week off before they play again next Sunday night at 5:30 when they host the Kimberly Dynamiters.
With their week off, the coaching staff will surely want to work on some man positive situations, as the Steam managed to go 0-for-10 (!!) on the Powerplay against the Knights on Sunday afternoon. Something positive that the coaching staff can be proud of, however, was that the Steam went 12-for-12 (!!) on the Penalty Kill in the game as well. One side of the special teams got the job done, and one side did not, and that's surely something Head Coach John Depourcq and assistant coaches Matt Taylor and Wade Parker will work on in practice this week.
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