From expansion to KIJHL champs, Osoyoos continues magical ride
By The Nelson Daily Sports
By Bruce Fuhr
The Nelson Daily Sports
In the end 42 wins, 90 points and runaway winners of the 2010-11 regular season really does mean something.
The Osoyoos Coyotes flexed their offensive muscles, scoring four times in the opening period to trounce the Castlegar Rebels 7-1 and clinch the 2011 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Championship in convincing fashion Saturday before an overflow crowd at the Complex in the Sunflower City.
The Desert Dogs win the best-of-seven League Championship series 4-2 and now represent the KIJHL at the Cyclone Taylor Cup beginning Thursday in Fernie.
“(Osoyoos) is a good team . . . you have to give them all the credit,” an emotional Ryan Aynsley, tears and sweat still dripping from his playoff beard, said from outside the silent Rebel dressing room.
“They came out strong . . . they wanted to win and they won tonight.”
The title continues what has already been a Cinderella season for the Desert Dogs.
Welcomed back to the KIJHL as poor expansion franchise in April 2010 after their team was jettisoned from the South Okanagan in 2007, the Coyote coaching staff somehow managed to perform some thievery of its own, mixing a core group of veterans in with skilled younger players and a solid netminder contingent to build a winner.
Going 1-1 to open the season, the Desert Dogs proceeded to dominate the Okanagan Conference and the league, heading into the Christmas break with an amazing 29 wins in 36 games record.
The final numbers on the regular season for Osoyoos was 42-2-2-4 nine points better than conference rivals and defending league champ Revelstoke Grizzlies — a team the Dogs took out in six games to advance to the KIJHL Final.
“It started with coach (Ken) Law doing a lot of good recruiting,” said Dogs’ captain and leading scorer Thierry Martine said from ice level following the ceremonial winner’s team photo.
“We had some good vets come back from other teams in the KI and we just did some hard work all year and managed to pull it out.”
Saturday, the visitors put Castlegar back on their heels early. Steve Sasyniuk scored 35 seconds into the contest on Rebel goalie Alex Ross and the Dogs never looked back.
Thierry Martine made it 2-0 on the power play before Brock Anderson and Shane Hana, finishing the game with three goals, scored in the final three minutes to give the visitors the insurmountable lead.
Hana’s goal, a weak wrist shot that fooled Ross, came with nine seconds remaining in the period.
“We came out ready to win,” said Osoyoos goalie Kyle Laslo, cool, calm and collected in the Coyote net throughout the contest, even at one point during the game playing like a defenceman as he controlled the puck behind the net, not in front, as his team prepared to set up a rush on the power play.
“We were all on the same page and we all wanted to win (tonight) and it’s great to win it in their barn.”
Laslo said Castlegar seemed to lose focus once the Dogs got the early lead.
“(Castlegar) seemed to be flying around really desperate to win, but we had a game plan and stuck to it and everyone on the team did what it took to win,” said Laslo, finishing the KIJHL playoffs with a scintillating 1.60 goals against average.
Aynsley, obviously slowed by a lower body injury during the Conference and League Finals suffereed in the Beaver Valley series, couldn’t agree more.
“Obviously, that’s tough when they score four right away,” Aynsley, held off the score sheet since scoring the overtime winner in Game three, confessed. “It just kills the bench . . . it kills everybody’s confidence . . ..”
“I really don’t know how to explain it,” the Kelowna native added. “We really didn’t know what to do. We had never been down by that much (of a deficit in a game).”
The four-goal outburst in the first forced Rebel coach Steve Junker to replace starting Alex Ross for backup Cole Buckley.
Buckley played well through the remainder of the game. But the Penticton product can’t score goals. And leading 5-0 after 40 minutes, the Coyotes played it smart for the final period.
Castlegar managed to give the crowd of more than 800 something to cheer about by snapping Laslo’s shutout bid in the third.
But nothing was going to stop the Osoyoos juggernaut from completing rags to riches story.
“This feels good but we’ve still got something left and that’s win two more banners,” said Martine.
And how will this expansion franchise continue its incredible run?
“Hard work is the only way we’re going to pull it off,” Martine added.
ICE CHIPS: The Rebels were missing two keys to the offensive playoff puzzle. Kootenay Ice affiliate Jesse Knowler, on fire throughout most of the post season, missed Saturday with a concussion suffered in Friday’s Game five in Osoyoos. Castlegar was also minus offensive sparkplug and team leader Taylor Anderson. The Castlegar native took a puck to the face during Game four in the Sunflower City. Anderson lost a few teeth and was unable to play for the remainder of the season. Anderson and Knowler, three and five in Rebel scoring, combined for 37 points in the playoffs. . . .Despite losing in the final, the season is a tremendous success for the one-proud Rebel franchise. Castlegar, under the guidance of rookie coach Steve Junker, finished 20 points better in regular season standings to win the Murdoch Division, and registered 12 more wins in the playoffs from a year ago. The Rebels also won the Murdoch Division and Kootenay Conference titles for the first time in more than 15 years. The last time Castlegar won the KIJHL title came in 1996.
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