The Similkameen News Leader
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POSSE TAKES OSOYOOS TO OVERTIME
Princeton Posse hosted Osoyoos Storm last Friday night and a capacity crowd in Princeton Arena saw a great game of hockey from start to finish.
Jerrett Pretty Young Man earned a 10-minute misconduct at 16:30 of the opening frame after having words with an Osoyoos team member. The discussion got heated and Pretty Young Man dropped his gloves, skated to the player and gave him a two handed shove during a stoppage in play.
The rest of the period highlighted solid action from both teams and very few shots on goal.
Then Princeton put their first goal into the net with 57.3-seconds left in the period. Jeremy Wagner and Micah Anderson kept poking at rebounds in front of the Storm goal and Wagner popped one into the top corner of the net. Conner McGarry also earned an assist.
The second period saw Osoyoos tie the game at 1-all at 5:42. Princeton came back and scored their go ahead goal at 6:08 during a power play.
Jeremy Wagner got the marker with Brad Davis earning the assist.
After two periods Princeton was ahead 2 to 1.
The third period saw more solid action with Princeton's Greg Sentes making incredible diving saves in addition to his usual acrobatics. He was getting quite a workout!
Osoyoos managed to tie the game at 5:51 and despite extra effort from both sides, the game ended tied at 2.
In the overtime frame, Osoyoos broke the momentum of the period with a time out at 1:22 and finished the game with a power play goal at 1:41.
Final score, Osoyoos 3, Princeton 2 in overtime. Shots on goal: Osoyoos 44, Princeton 36.
ALL-STAR WEEKEND ROUND-UP
Any idea why it was so busy around Princeton over the weekend? It was because Princeton's KIJHL Hockey Club, the Posse, hosted the KIJHL All-Star Weekend.
Activities started early Saturday morning with a meeting of league Directors. One of the highlights of the meeting was the awarding of two points to Princeton's standings as a result of a game cancelled earlier in the season by Revelstoke. The story at the time was that the Grizzlies' bus had broken down.
Hockey action started at 12 Noon Saturday with the Top Prospects Game. For those who don't follow the sport, in the KIJHL the Top Prospects game features the best players from all fifteen of the league clubs split into two teams.
The crowd at the game included hockey scouts from different league and different levels and many of the 'top prospects' will see themselves playing hockey somewhere else next season, often at a higher level than the KIJHL's
Junior B.
Although Princeton had a single entry, Chad Hohmann did manage to get his name on the stat sheet and his play was probably noticed by more than just the fans at the game.
The game itself was a fast-paced, energetic game of hockey. It was easily the best game ever played at Princeton's Arena.
The Eddie Mountain Top Prospects (EM) scored first at 1:47 of the first period. Chad Gehon (Sicamous) got the goal with an assist going to Brenden Turnbull (Sicamous).
It wasn't until 8:49 of the second period when the Neil Murdoch Top Prospects (NM) were able to tie the game. Kevin Koopman (Beaver Valley) got the power play goal with an assist going to Trevor Bailey (Columbia Valley).
The EM team got a go ahead power play goal at 7:23 of the third period when Conner Gregory (Sicamous) popped one at the goalie which bounced off his shoulder and dropped into the goal. Assists went to Harry Mahesh (Osoyoos) and Princeton's Chad Hohmann.
The EM team tied the game at 2 at 10:20. Patrik Martin (Beaver Valley) took the credit with assists going to Evan Bloodom and Gilbert Bilodeau.
The game ended tied at 2-all and went into a five minute overtime period where there was no scoring. This led to a shoot out.
First to shoot for EM was Princeton's Chad Hohmann, who beat the goalie and clanged one off the bottom of the crossbar. Colton Sutter (NM) missed, Harry Mahesh (EM) was beat and Riley Loyst (NM) couldn't score.
Brendan Turnbull scored for EM, Craig Cunningham (NM) missed, Jonathan Spence (EM) scored as did Kyle St. Denis (NM), Kevin Walrod (EM) was stopped, as was the last shooter Soloman McCann (NM).
As the Eddie Mountain team scored twice in the shoot out, they were awarded the win.
Player of the game was Chad Gehon of the Eddie Mountain team who plays for Sicamous Eagles.
FOOD, HOCKEY AND ADVICE FILLS WEEKEND
Summerland Sting General Manager, and former Princeton Minor Hockey Player, Andy Oakes, had the honour of introducing Dixon Ward - the KIJHL All-Star Banquet Guest Speaker.
Ward, who was born in Edmonton and played Junior A Hockey in Red Deer, was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in the 7th round and spent over ten years in the NHL.
He became a Canuck in 1992 and also played for the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in addition to two different seasons in Switzerland and on two Team Canada Spangler Cup teams.
In total, Ward played in 599 NHL regular season and play off games and currently lives in Kelowna and has business interests in the Summerland Sting and Okanagan Summer Hockey School.
Ward, who was laid back, spoke without notes on the game that has consumed most of his life - hockey.
He shared his passion from three different perspectives, from that of a player, coach and parent.
He spoke directly to the players in the room about the importance of setting realistic goals.
"Set your goals, goals you can attain. Something you can control."
He made it clear that the KIJHL is a strong support network for players stating that with help from parents, coaches and the rest of the league there are many opportunities for players to succeed at this level of hockey.
"You have a responsibility to make good decisions," he warned the players.
Then he shifted his focus to coaching.
"The game's not about us. When we're coaches and the game starts it's no longer about us, it's about the kids and the players."
Ward also emphasized the role of the KIJHL.
"We can't forget what this league is all about. It's a developmental league."
He placed a great deal of importance on education and studies, then shifted his focus once again but this time to parents.
"Our job as a parent is to support our children and provide them with opportunities."
Ward pointed out parenting did not include taking things out on coaches, referees, other players or other parents.
The second game of the day was the All-Star Game, which started at 7:00 PM.
Princeton had two players dressed for this contest: Conner McGarry and Brad Fraser.
This game was very different from the first game of the day in that action was not as fast and there was a lot more scoring.
The Eddie Mountain All-Stars (EM) scored first only 44-seconds into the game.
Tyler Seidler (Osoyoos) got the marker with assistance from Dustin Sobchak (Sicamous) and Jeff Taylor (Osoyoos).
The Neil Murdoch All-Stars (NM) tied the game at 9:58 with an unassisted goal by Jeff Steele (Creston Valley).
The EM team added goal #2 at 12:18. Credit went to Travis Duperron (Osoyoos) with assists to Jeff Taylor (Osoyoos) and Dustin Sobchak (Sicamous).
The NM All-Stars tied it up at 2-all at 14:28 with a goal from Jeff Steele. Assists came from Josh Renaud (Columbia Valley) and Tyler Shedden (Kimberley).
The second period saw the NM All-Stars get their go ahead goal at 2:39. Chris Bratina (Beaver Valley) took the credit with help from Stefan Decosse (Beaver Valley).
The same team added goals #4 and 5 at 7:08 (Tyler Shedden - Kimberley, Justin Mugford - Golden, JC Thomas - Spokane) and 11:36 (Tyler Shedden, Stefan Decosse - Beaver Valley, Justin Mugford) with the EM All-Stars answering with goals 3 and 4 at 16:02 (Michael Keller - Summerland, Martin Croteau - Fernie) and with 1:08 left in the period (Tommy Latouche-Gauvin - Kimberley, Jay McEwen - Kimberley, Daniel Brown - Revelstoke). The score after two was 5 to 4 in favour of the Neil Murdoch team.
Princeton's Brad Fraser went between the pipes in the third period and faced a total of ten shots - none of them scoring.
The rest of the period was all Eddie Mountain with goal #5 at 1:53 (Jay McEwen, Dylan McIntosh - Sicamous), 8:06 (Steve Cullis - Revelstoke, Dustin Vetter - Sicamous) and into the empty net with only 41.9-seconds left (Tyler Seidler - Osoyoos).
Final score: Eddie Mountain All-Stars 7, Neil Murdoch All-Stars 5.
Player of the game was Jeff Steele of the Neil Murdoch team who plays for Creston Valley.
