Two victories, one in a shootout, and the only blemish was a shootout defeat.
The North Okanagan Knights began their Kootenay International Junior Hockey League pre-season schedule as one of four teams taking part in a three-day, game-a-day round-robin event in Rutland Sept. 9-11.
The Knights started the weekend with a 2-1 shootout loss to the host Kelowna Chiefs.
Matthew Johnston gave North OK a 1-0 advantage midway through the second period. The lead lasted all of 50 seconds before Jaxson Rebman tied the game for the Chiefs.
The only player out of 12 to score in penalty shots was Dominik Dominguez for Kelowna.
Goalies Austin Seibel (first half) and Jaxon Haywood combined to make 47 saves for North Okanagan. Reed Mclennan went the distance for Kelowna, stopping 30 shots.
The Knights scored the game’s final four goals Saturday, Sept. 10, in a 5-2 victory over the Sicamous Eagles.
Brodie Pearson had two goals for the Knights. Tyler Burke, Tyler Jamieson and Jake Watson had the other markers. Haywood started in the Knights goal and played the first 30 minutes, giving way to Josh Donison. The duo made 34 saves.
North Okanagan finished the weekend with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Summerland Steam Sunday, Sept. 11.
Like the first contest, the regulation time scoring was done in the second period. Fraser O’Brien tallied for the Knights at 11:15 before Maddox Medeiros tied the contest for Summerland at 16:38.
Tag Bryson opened the shootout for North Okanagan by scoring the only goal. Seibel stopped all three Summerland shooters. The Coldstream player entered the game midway through the second period and finished with 18 saves. Donison stopped all six shots he faced in the game’s first half.
North Okanagan completes the pre-season with a road trip to the Cariboo and two dates with the 100 Mile House Wranglers Saturday, Sept. 17, and Sunday afternoon, Sept. 18.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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