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Knights brush back Sicamous

The North Okanagan Knights will finish the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League with the current roster.

The North Okanagan Knights will finish the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League with the current roster.

The Knights were unable to make any moves prior to the league’s Sunday deadline.

“We tried,” said Knights head coach /GM Bryant Perrier.

The Knights do have one open playing card and are having a look at forward Jordan Harding-Bautista, 19, who recently played for the Comox Valley Glacier Kings of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.

Harding-Bautista had three goals in 19 games in an injury-plagued season in Comox.

“He comes highly recommended but we’re not sure about his injury,” said Perrier, which is described as a groin problem. “He’s in our camp and skating with us but he’s about two or three weeks away from playing.”

North Okanagan (10-21-3-4) got back into the win column Saturday, 24 hours after having their five-game unbeaten streak snapped Friday night in Revelstoke.

The Knights scored twice in the third period for a 4-2 win over the Eagles in Sicamous, making a winner out of goalie Tristan Quiring who was making his first start in 13 games, finishing with 29 saves.

“Tristan responded well after we gave him a day or so to prepare for the start,” said Perrier.

“He was nervous but did a good job. He fought the puck at times, and the team responded for him. The defence was better and we had a little more urgency in how we defended our end.”

Ryan Moon, with his eighth of the year, scored the winner five minutes in to the final period. Mitchell Lukacs (3rd) added the insurance with 96 seconds left.

Colin Robin, with his ninth, in the first period and Austin Fournier, with his eighth in the second, rounded out the North Okanagan scoring.

North Okanagan has an eight-point bulge on the Princeton Posse (8-27-2-1) in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Okanagan Shuswap Division heading into a weekend doubleheader at the Nor-Val Sports Centre.

The Knights host the third-place Kelowna Chiefs (18-14-2-1) Saturday at 7:30 p.m., then take on the division-leading Osoyoos Coyotes Sunday afternoon at 2.

The Coyotes and Posse made one of the biggest deals on deadline day.

The Posse sent leading scorer, 18-year-old forward Drew Carter, and 20-year-old goalie Stephen Heslop to Ooyoos for goalie Adam Jones and defenceman Jake Hryhoriw, both 18.

Carter has 14 goals and 30 points, which puts him fourth in Osoyoos scoring. Heslop appeared in  14 games with a 3-9-2 record, a 3.08 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.

Jones appeared in 13 games with the Coyotes, posting a record of 8-4 with a 2.41 goals against average and a .909 save percentage.

 

Hryhoriw played in 20 games for Osoyoos, pocketing one goal and two points along with 25 penalty minutes.

 

 



Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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