PETTITT NETS OT WINNER AS STEAM GET BACK ON TRACK

On Saturday night the Summerland Steam headed into 'The Eddie' in Invermere to play the Columbia Valley Rockies in the opener of a 2 game road trip through the Kootenays. Rookie goaltender Alex Kong got the call from Coach John Depourcq on this night while Talon Walton manned the space between the red pipes for the Rockies.

After 2 losses last weekend, the Steam came out with a purpose on this night, controlling the majority of the play in the 1st period. After a very solid penalty kill late in the period though, the Steam gave up a goal against the run of play as Doan Smith was able to slip one past Alex Kong to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead. Ryan Lawson and Sam Young would draw assists on Smith's team leading 11th of the season and the Rockies escaped the period with a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 15-6.

In the 2nd frame the Steam exercised their penalty killing skills, as they took several penalties in the early part of the period and spent the better part of 10 minutes in the penalty box. After all the penalty kill did their part in the early part of the period, the offense began to see the fruits of their labour. Summerland worked hard to draw a penalty and used their powerplay to have Jack Mills feed Paulsen Lautard a breakaway pass through the middle of the ice. Lautard took the pass and found himself one-on-one with Rockies goaltender Talon Walton, and Lautard was able to make a move to the backhand and go up under the bar to tie the game at 1.

The lead would be restored just under 5 minutes later, however, as Carter Melnyk took a shot from the point on the powerplay that found it's way to the back of the net to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead. With the Steam trailing, they worked hard to keep the pressure on the Rockies, but failed to convert and ended the 2nd trailing by that same 2-1 score.

In the third it seemed to be all Steam all the time, as they put the throttle down and kept driving shots towards the Columbia Valley net. On a powerplay near the mid-point of the period, Lathan McKinney potted his first KIJHL goal on a Summerland powerplay to tie the game at 2.

 After several minutes of relentless pressure from Summerland, the Rockies got a hold of the puck and sent it down the ice. Alex Kong left his crease to play the puck and was pressured by the Rockies. He tried to make a pass across to his defenseman, but it was picked off by Dondre Watson and he put the puck in the yawning cage to give his team the lead with near 8 minutes to go.

As it started to look more and more grim for the Steam, they continued to push towards the final buzzer and get the game tied. With 2:21 left in the third period, Paulsen Lautard collected his third point of the night as he found Cole Woodliffe in the corner. Woodliffe was able to head behind the net and tuck a quick wrap-around in the far side to tie the game at 3 and force overtime.

In OT it was Riley Pettitt who played the hero when a shot from Lautard came off the back boards for Pettitt to jam behind Talon Walton and give the Steam one of those wins that would go in the 'Character' category. This type of win was one the Steam desperately needed after losing 4 of their last 5, and it was the best thing the team could have asked for to have their captain lead them to victory.

Now the Steam will look forward and head to Golden to face the Rockets tomorrow afternoon. You can catch all the action on kijhl.ca with the broadcast crew from Golden. Summerland will return to home ice at The Station on Friday, October 24th when the Kelowna Chiefs pay a visit for a 7:30 start!

STEAM GO SEARCHING FOR A WIN IN THE KOOTENAYS

Last weekend on home ice, the Summerland Steam did not have a banner weekend, losing 5-2 and
6-2 to Kamloops and Osoyoos, respectively. They were coming off an 8 day layoff that saw the coaches give them the majority of the week off in order to get healthy, as a flu bug caught the dressing room and put several players down early in the week. They'll head to Invermere for a Saturday night tilt with the Columbia Valley Rockies and then on to Golden to face the Rockets on Sunday afternoon. The Steam will certainly be hoping for a better result in order to start climbing back up the standings in the Okanagan Division and (excuse the pun) get back on track.

Even though they have lost 4 of their last 5, and even though the last 2 scores may have been a little lopsided, the Steam haven't been playing bad hockey. They've been working hard in all three zones and Coach John Depourcq is ultimately happy with what they're doing, they just aren't yielding the results they want.

In our new "2 Minutes With" feature on our broadcast on Monday afternoon, Coach Depourcq noted that his team was a little bit undisciplined over the weekend and put themselves at a disadvantage against two of the KIJHL's best powerplays.

This weekend the Steam have another tough road trip ahead as they start in Invermere on Saturday night. Although the Columbia Valley Rockies don't have the best record in the KI, they are a tough opponent and boast a young roster looking to improve on a tough start.

After a Saturday night matchup with the Rockies, the Steam will head up to Golden to face the Rockets on Sunday afternoon. The Rockets are off to a hot start to their 2014/15 KIJHL season, starting with a 7-4-0-1 record through 12 games. The Rockets are not only off to a good start, but they're very tough to play on home ice, posting a record of 4-2 in 6 home games.

Summerland will be up against it this weekend going over to the Kootenays for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time they are healthy and ready to play and will be looking to bounce back after a tough couple of weeks. You can catch all the action on the webcasts from Columbia Valley and Golden at www.kijhl.ca.

The Steam will return home next Friday, October 24th, when they face-off against the Kelowna Chiefs!

STEAM TRAIN GOES OFF THE RAILS AT HOME

Photo: Sarah Mayer

It was supposed to be a weekend for the Summerland Steam to gain some ground in the Okanagan Division standings. With 2 tough opponents coming into the building on Sunday and Monday the Steam knew they were in tough, but with both the Kamloops Storm and Osoyoos Coyotes playing 3 games in the better part of 3 days the Steam thought they might be able to come away with 4 points.

Instead, the photo on the left depicts exactly how the Steam came up: Empty.

With most of the team having their parents and siblings in town to celebrate the Thanksgiving weekend, the Steam took to the ice on Sunday afternoon against a Kamloops Storm team who had won 4 of their last 5 and were coming in fresh off a loss at home on Saturday night. It was evident early on which team had spent the week recovering from a flu bug. The Steam had one good chance off the stick of Wyatt Gale on the opening shift of the hockey game, but beyond that it was nearly all Kamloops. 

David Larouche would open the scoring for the Storm on the powerplay before Mitch Friesen would add another shortly after. Both goals would come on the powerplay as Summerland was unable to stay disciplined against a bigger, stronger Kamloops team.

The Storm were helped by an extended 5-on-3 in the middle of the period, including a high sticking call on Summerland's Michael McEachern that wasn't assessed until after a goal was scored nearly a minute after the infraction took place. During that minute, a stoppage occurred with no arms raised before Kamloops captin Felix Larouche inquired with referee Mike Langin, who then assessed the penalty after the Kamloops goal had been scored. In all my years of being around a rink and the game of hockey, I'd never seen anything like it and am still quite bewildered by it, to say the least. 

While on the 5-on-3, David Larouche would collect his second of the night to extend the Storm lead to 3-0, while also deflating whatever was left of the confidence for the Summerland Steam. Wyatt Gale would find the back of the net to cut the lead to 3-1 with 2:03 to go in the frame, giving the Steam a faint flCcker of some light at the end of the penalty filled tunnel. 

That wouldn't last long, though, as the Storm's Brayden Dale would have a shot find it's way past Brett Huber to extend the lead back to 3 goals and spell the end of Huber's night. Alex Kong would come in relief of Huber, and allow one more (Mark O'Shaughnessy in the 3rd period) on the 12 shots he faced. 

Coleton Fisher would cut the lead to 4-2 again late in the second, but the O'Shaughnessy goal in the 3rd would close out the scoring to make it 5-2 for the Kamloops Storm. 

After a disappointing start to their Thanksgiving weekend, the Steam were looking for a bounce-back performance on Monday afternoon against the league's best team, the Osoyoos Coyotes. The Coyotes had previously been 10-0 coming into the weekend before being stopped on consecutive nights by Sicamous and Chase. With one of their biggest rivals coming into town having lost their last 2, Summerland was looking to come out early and use the body on the Coyotes and create some opportunity. 

Unfortunately, the only opportunity that throwing the body was able to give the Steam was the opportunity to sit in the penalty box while the league's best powerplay went to work. After a period the Coyotes led 4-0, and after two the score read 5-1, with the third period ending in a  6-2 'Yotes win. 

Jackson Dematos was making his return for the Coyotes after missing the past 7 games due to a lower body injury, and made his presence known by collecting a hat trick in his first game back. 

The top 2 lines for the Coyotes were on fire on this particular afternoon, as Rory Neary collected 4 points (1G, 3A) and Rainer Glimpel added 5 points in the victory. Daniel Stone and Brett Jewell would record the other Coyote goals in the victory, while Cole Woodliffe and Paulsen Lautard connected for the Steam. 

Lautard's goal was especially pretty, as he took a long lead pass from Michael McEachern and made a forehand, backhand move to beat Coyotes' goaltender Lawrence Langan late in the 3rd period. Not long after the goal, Steam forward Rylan Sideroff was assessed a 5 minute major for a check to the head and a game misconduct after a decent sell-job from 'Yotes captain Troy Maclise, who was well enough after the hit to play nearly 4 minutes of the 5 minute power play. 

The Steam will now take to the road again, as next Saturday night they will play in Invermere against the Columbia Valley Rockies before moving on to Golden to play the Rockets on Sunday afternoon at 4:30. You can catch all the action on the KIJHL Webcast at www.kijhl.ca. The Steam return home for a 7:30 start on October 24th vs the Kelowna Chiefs. 

STEAM WAIT FOR THE STORM TO ROLL IN

Rarely as a junior hockey player do you have both Friday and Saturday off during any given season. It's also considered a rare occurrence to have to play back to back afternoon games, but on this Thanksgiving Weekend the Summerland Steam will experience both of these things. While the rest of the division plays Friday, Saturday, and some Sunday, the Steam will play back to back afternoon affairs on Sunday (2PM) and Monday (1PM). 

First on the docket for the Steam is a meeting with the Doug Birks Division leading (and reigning KIJHL Regular Season Champion) Kamloops Storm. The two teams have faced each other once already this season, that being a 5-0 road win for Summerland in Kamloops on the Storm's Opening Night. On that night it was Brett Huber that secured the win for the Steam via a 43 save goose egg, and it looks as though he will start Sunday. He and goaltending partner Alex Kong have both been extremely sharp early in this KIJHL Season, as they hold the lowest combined Goals Against Average in the league and have stapled down the top 2 spots on the 'League Leaders' list of goaltenders over at KIJHL.ca. 

Here's a look at how the two teams stack up in the stats department heading into the weekend. These numbers could change before game time on Sunday as Kamloops plays 2 games between now and then, but here's how they sit heading into play on October the 10th. 

                                                                      

SUMMERLAND STEAM		KAMLOOPS STORM
6-3	W-L	6-3-0-1
3.56 (7th)	GF (Per GM)	3.80 (2nd)
1.89 (1st)	GA	2.70 (4th)
.930 (1st)	SV %	.882 %
16.22 % (9th)	PP	20.83 % (5th)
91.53 % (2nd)	PK	74.36 % (19th)
2nd	POWER RANK Source: Nitros Night in Kimberly Blog Oct 6.	7th

If stats don't lie, the one thing the numbers would tell you is that the Steam need to find a way to put themselves on the powerplay early and often on Sunday afternoon. With the 19th ranked PK in the KIJHL (2nd last), it would seem that Kamloops has a bit of trouble while playing a man down, and the Steam would surely like to capitalize with the man advantage as much as possible. 

Unfortunately, finding powerplay opportunities isn't quite that easy. The Steam are going to have to do what they've done all season and find that physical line and play on it, and that part of the game is going to have to be led by newly minted Captain Paulsen Lautard. He and linemates Jack Mills and Cole Woodliffe have done a good job causing problems for the opposition in the offensive zone early in this season, and that will be imperative again this weekend.

The trio did a great job last weekend in the Kootenays at causing havoc in the offensive zone on the forecheck, and that is where they will need to succeed again on Sunday. They will likely be trying to cause problems for a defense corps of Kamloops who may have some 'heavy legs' after playing both Friday and Saturday nights, and it will be important for the Steam to get the puck low into the Kamloops zone and keep it there. 

On the defensive side of the puck for the Steam, it will be equally as important to stay out of the penalty box as it will be to try to get the Storm into it. Kamloops boasts the 5th best powerplay in the KIJHL and will not hesitate to find a lane and take a shot whenever possible. They also own the KIJHL's second most potent offense, right next to the team the Steam will host on Monday afternoon, the Osoyoos Coyotes. The Steam will have to be conscious of locking down their D zone and not allowing Kamloops to run around the zone on them. 

The puck drops at 2PM at the Summerland Arena on Sunday afternoon. Tickets are just $10 at the door or in advance at Nesters Market in Summerland. If you can't make it to the game on Sunday, be sure to catch Mike Swanson and I on the webcast at www.kijhl.ca 

LAUTARD HAS BIG WEEKEND WHILE STEAM STUMBLE THROUGH KOOTENAYS

Over the weekend the Summerland Steam took to the road for a 3 game road trip into Kimberly, Fernie, and Creston. The trip didn't get off to the start that the Steam would have liked, as when they boarded the bus on Friday morning nearly half the team was down with the flu. As all teams find out at one point or another during the season, the show must go on, and that's exactly what the Steam had to do. They were staring down the barrel of 3 games in 2.5 days, and didn't have any other choice but to battle through.

Prior to the Friday night matchup with the Kimberly Dynamiters, the coaching staff finalized a decision they'd been weighing for weeks, appointing Paulsen Lautard the Captain of the 2014/15 Summerland Steam. Lautard promptly rewarded them, showing as the Steam's best player in a Friday night shutout loss before collecting 4 goals and 3 assists in the final 2 games of the weekend.

On Saturday night Lautard was alone on the scoreboard, as he tallied all 3 Steam goals in a 5-3 loss to the Fernie Ghostriders. On Sunday afternoon, Alex Kong picked up his second victory of the season as the Steam picked up a 5-2 victory on the final leg of the road trip. Lautard picked up 4 points (1G, 3A) in the victory, while Jack Mills and Calvin Hadley each chipped in with 2 points.

Newcomer Lathan McKinney got his first crack at the Steam lineup on the weekend and impressed the coaching staff with his skating ability and puck control on defense. McKinney helped the Steam powerplay out tremendously as well, collecting 2 assists in the 3 weekend games.

Head Coach John Depourcq along with assistant coaches Wade Parker and Matt Taylor elected to give the team 2 full days off on the heels of the road trip in order to get the team healthy and ready for a BIG weekend ahead. The team will have both Friday and Saturday off before playing a pair of afternoon games on Sunday and Monday against a pair of tough opponents.

The Steam will face-off against the Kamloops Storm on Sunday afternoon at 2PM followed by a clash with the division leading (and undefeated) Osoyoos Coyotes on Monday afternoon at 1PM.


Stay tuned to the blog for a preview of both games coming a little later this week, including an in-depth look at both teams and what the Steam are going to have to do to beat them.

STEAM STUMBLE IN KIMBERLY, LOOK TO REBOUND VS THE 'RIDERS

Starting a stretch of 3 games in 2.5 days, the Summerland Steam rolled into Kimberly on Friday night looking to stay hot and keep up with the division leading Osoyoos Coyotes. Unfortunately the only thing that was hot was Kimberly goaltender Tyson Brouwer, who stopped 31 Steam shots to shut Summerland out for the first time this season. Brouwer was stellar on this night, as the Steam poured shots at the Kimberly net right from the start. On the night the shot clock would read 31-19 in favor of the Summerland Steam, but the shot clock and the score clock said 2 different things at the end of the night. Kimberly used some undisciplined play by the Steam to their advantage and connected twice on the powerplay en route to a 3-0 win.

The first period was a scoreless one, but it wasn't uneventful. It was highlighted by Kimberly's Eric Buckley taking a healthy run at Steam goaltender Brett Huber with 6:46 to go in the first period. Buckley received 5 minutes for goaltender interference and a game misconduct for his trouble, and Huber would shake it off and stay in the game.

The scoring wouldn't get started until the midpoint of the 2nd period when Jordan Roy opened the scoring for the Dynamiters. It was a shot from about 20 feet out that got up and over Brett Huber on a Kimberly Powerplay to give the Nitros a 1-0 lead.

Despite their best efforts, the Steam could not beat the Kimberly goaltender, Brouwer, who was easily the first star of the hockey game. As the Steam continued to pester him with shots, he stood tall until the Dynamiters got another goal on the powerplay. This time it was Jason Richter with a timely goal after a Summerland penalty to extend the lead to 2. Marco Campanella would then add an empty net goal with :36 on the clock to secure the victory for the Kimberly Dynamiters.

After the loss last night, the Steam are going to have to have a quick rebound as they head to Fernie to face the Ghostriders on Saturday night. In their last meeting, the Steam skated away with a 3-1 win in Summerland after getting goals from Coleton Fisher, Braden Saretsky, and Wyatt Gale. They'll need that balanced scoring attack again tonight in a hostile barn in Fernie where nothing comes easy to any visiting opponent.


Puck drop is at 730 MST (6:30 in Summerland) and you can catch the call at KIJHL.ca!

STEAM BEGIN KOOTENAY SWING WITH VISIT TO KIMBERLY

Facing arguably their toughest test of this young season over the next 3 days, the Summerland Steam climbed on the bus this morning to head to the Kootenays for 3 very tough games in 2.5 days. They start their grind tonight at the Civic Center in Kimberly where the 5-0 Dynamiters are ready and waiting. The two teams last met in the 2012/13 season in which Fernie won both meetings, 3-1 and 5-3.

As two teams who are vastly unfamiliar with one another, the focus turns to stats. Both teams have their strengths and weaknesses, and will surely look to exploit each other early on to get an upper hand. You can check out how the two teams compare with one another over at 'Nitros Night In Kimberly' with Josh Lockhart by clicking the link on the right side of our blog.

Here's how it shakes out after all the numbers are analyzed:

Summerland has the best defense corps and goaltender in the KIJHL, holding a 1.17 team Goals Against Average and a Save Percentage of over 95%. Their goaltending has been no less than stellar and has been helped by the play of their defensmen in the early part of this season. The Steam can also score at the other end of the ice, sitting fifth in Goals For (4.00 Goals per game). The top line has led the way on the scoreboard as Paulsen Lautard, Jack Mills, and Cole Woodliffe are 1,2,3 on the team leaderboard with 9,7, and 6 points respectively.

On the other side of the center line, the Kimberly Dynamiters boast one of the most potent offenses in the league. Early in the season they are averaging 5.60 Goals per game, with Coy Prevost leading the attack with 5 goals and 8 points in the first 5 games of the season.

The key for the Steam tonight against the Dynamiters will be shots on goal. Shots are always one of the most important elements to winning hockey games, but it will be especially important for the Steam tonight as Kimberly sits 17th in the league in Save Percentage at just a shade over 88%.


The puck drops at 7PM MOUNTAIN TIME (6PM IN THE OKANAGAN), and you can catch the broadcast from the Civic Center in Kimberly just prior to puck drop over at www.kijhl.ca