Morning Star Staff
It was a penalty-filled home opener for the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s North Okanagan Knights.
But only the visiting Revelstoke Grizzlies scored with the man advantage.
The Bears beat the Knights 3-1 Saturday at the Nor-Val Sports Centre in a game that saw the teams whistled for 66 minutes in penalties, including 42 to Revelstoke.
Josh Rohatynsky scored the only powerplay goal at 11:22 of the opening period with the Knights’ Luke Harvie serving a two-minute tripping penalty.
Brady Marzocco gave the 310 fans something to cheer about when he got North Okanagan’s only goal at 10:20 of the second period, unassisted, to tie the game.
Jon Vandermolen got the winner with 5:54 left in regulation time for the Grizzlies, who picked up their first win of the season (1-2). Teammate Daniel Fisher added an empty-net marker with nine seconds remaining.
Revelstoke went 1-9 with the powerplay while the Knights were 0-7.
Vernon’s Michael LeNoury is the captain of the Grizzlies. Fellow Vernon product Jordan Rea is also with Revelstoke.
Giovanni Sambrielaz made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal while Rob Nawrot took the loss, making 21 stops.
The Knights (1-1-0-1) visit the Kelowna Chiefs (2-1) tonight at the Rutland Arena, then host the defending league, provincial and Western Canadian champion 100 Mile House Wranglers (2-2) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Nor-Val Sports Centre.
n The league has upheld a 45-day suspension and $500 fine to Castlegar Rebels head coach and general manager Bill Rotheisler for tampering (talking to players already signed to other teams in the league).
The Rebels appealed the decision but praised the league for its action.
“The appeal was submitted in hopes the 45-day suspension would be reduced because the initial information we received from the league indicated our coach would be suspended from all activities for 45 days, meaning he couldn’t even run practices,” said Mike Johnstone, team president.
“We felt that put our players in a very tough position because we’re a developmental league, and we didn’t feel it was fair to our players to penalize them by removing the instruction of their coach for 45 days. Bill made an unfortunate decision and breached league rules, as a result, he’s being punished for it. We support the league’s efforts to crack down on individuals who violate the rules, we were hoping to minimize the adverse effects on our players, they’re our number one concern.”
---with files from the Castlegar News