The North Okanagan Knights couldn’t handle the heat Friday night, but they made amends the night following.
The Chase Heat mounted a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Knights in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) action Oct. 14 at Chase’s Art Holding Memorial Arena.
Maddex Bignell got Chase off to a strong start, scoring just over a minute into the game, assisted by Vraeden Huth and Garrett Martin.
The second period was owned by the Knights, who scored the period’s only three goals. The first came on the powerplay courtesy of Adam Bourgeois, assisted by Kevin-Thomas Walters and Tag Bryson.
Both the Knights’ second and third goals came with less than two minutes left in the second period. Tyler Burke scored his second of the season, assisted by Matthew Johnston and Devin Jameson, followed by a goal from Matthew Johnston assisted by Walters and Ethan O’Rourke.
In the third period Chase flipped the script, scoring four unanswered goals. Trevor Kennedy scored two markers in the final frame, with goals from Martin and Braeden Huth rounding out the scoring.
The Knights out-shot the Heat by a margin of 34-29 on the night.
In a rematch versus the Heat on Saturday, Oct. 15, the Knights put in a complete performance, winning by a score of 6-0 at home at Armstrong’s Nor-Val Centre.
Brodie Pearson got the scoring started 15:46 into the first period, assisted by Collin Kozijn and Fraser O’Brien.
Just 45 seconds into the second period, Walters extended the Knights’ lead with his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Kyle Wheeler and Ben Van Langen.
The Knights’ offence exploded in the third period with goals from O’Rourke, Walters, Johnston and Jameson.
On Sunday, Oct. 16, the Knights wound up back in the loss column after a 2-1 defeat to the Creston Valley Thunder Cats. After a scoreless first period, Luke Chakrabarti and Campbell Mclean scored minutes apart to give the Thunder Cats a 2-0 lead. Johnston scored for the Knights midway through the third period to cut the lead in half, but that’s as close as they would come.
The Knights currently sit fourth in the Bill Ohlhausen Division with a 4-4-0-0 record.
The Knights are back in action on the road Wednesday, Oct. 19 against the Osoyoos Coyotes. The puck drops at 7:35 p.m.
In other Knights news, goaltender Austin Seibel was named the KIJHL’s third star of the week. The Coldstream product won both his games last week for the Knights. In a 2-1 win over the Kelowna Chiefs, Seibel made 40 saves, including 19 in the third period alone. In a 4-2 win over the Kamloops Storm, he made 43 saves. In total, he stopped 83 of 86 shots for a .965 save percentage and a 1.5 goals-against average.
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