In Game 5 of round 1, the Summerland Steam found themselves down 5-1 with 3 minutes left in the 2nd period to the Kelowna Chiefs. They got 2 before the end of the 2nd, 3 in the third, and the OT winner to win 7-6 in OT.
In Game 2 of the Okanagan Division Championship Series, the Steam also found themselves down 4 goals in the 2nd period. There was no miracle comeback in this one. Summerland got down early and never had a lead as Troy Maclise and Jackson Glimpel scored 3:09 apart early in the first period to jump the Coyotes out to a 2-0 lead.
Paulsen Lautard would get the Steam on the board just over a minute later after taking a feed out front from Daylan Robertson. He beat Brett Soles five-hole to cut the Coyotes' lead to 2-1. That's how the first period would end, as Summerland would outshoot the 'Yotes 16-7 in the first.
In the 2nd, Summerland would come out slow. They had a lapse of about 4 minutes, and the Coyotes scored 3 goals in 2:16 to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Roseboom, Gradisar, and Maclise (his 2nd) would be the goal scorers, and Summerland would call their timeout. It looked like Summerland got some life back after the timeout, and managed to get a goal back on the powerplay with 4:51 to play. Michael McEachern took the shot and got a tip from Daylan Robertson to beat Brett Soles and make the game 5-2.
Summerland would come out with some jump early in the third, but that jump was thwarted by Colten Braid, who beat Brett Huber to make it 6-2 just 4:28 into the 3rd period. That would end the night for Huber, as Spencer Huff would come on in relief and see his first action of the postseason.
The Coyotes would add two more goals, one from Rainer Glimpel and one from Tyler Ostram to complete the scoresheet at 8-2 for the Coyotes. The Steam took 7 penalties in the 3rd period, which is far too many against a very good Osoyoos Powerplay. A bit of fatigue and a bit of frustration set in on them I think, and they let it get away.
Summerland just plain flat out didn't have it tonight. They were slower than usual, and that can be attributed to playing their 5th game in 6 nights and 9th game in 11. They'll have an off-day to get themselves straight tomorrow followed by Game 3 on Thursday night at the Summerland Arena.
Tom Shields said it best on the Coyotes' broadcast before the game even started: The KIJHL should look at ditching the chase for the Keystone Cup and the Cyclone Taylor Cup. I understand that it gives teams incentive to chase after the 'tournament' scenario. Having said that, as Tom put it, "it isn't healthy to play this many games in such a short period of time."
The alternative would be to stretch out the Regular Season to the end of February and play the playoff rounds in March and the early half of April, eventually crowning a KIJHL League Champion.
As nice as that would be, that's not the situation we're in. The teams will now have 1 game in the next 3 days which will give them time to rest before playing 4 in a row if it comes to that.
Of Note: The last time the Coyotes visited the Summerland Arena, there were some conversations had about some comments made on our broadcasts. Some thought we might have a little 'home bias', as the game turned ugly. We call it like we see it and there's always that possibility, because if there wasn't when you cover a team all season, you're doing it wrong.
We dealt with those problems, but I did have a problem with the Coyotes broadcast tonight. My problem was NOT with Tom Shields. Tom is fantastic and has been doing his thing for a long time. He was one of the first guys in the KI that made me want to get into this as a volunteer when one of my siblings played for Osoyoos in 2011/12.
The thing I had a problem with were the people around him on this night. On separate occasions the broadcast picked up Riley Pettitt, Nelson Hurry, and Calvin Hadley being called 'rat', 'plug' and 'tool' respectively by the fans around the microphone. These comments were picked up clearly and remembered specifically, but they were among others. This isn't okay.
Those fans have their opinions, and that's fine, but maybe the broadcast needs to be isolated a little bit so as to not pick up those types of comments. Should remind, as I was, "Some opposing players' parents buy games too."
Game 3 goes Thursday at the Summerland Arena.
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