Chiefs nip Coyotes in Law’s return

After winning four straight Okanagan Division pennants with the Osoyoos Coyotes, Ken Law has the early jump on making it five in a row as the new head coach of the Kelowna Chiefs.

The Penticton resident had a successful return home on Friday as the Chiefs edged the Coyotes 2-1 at the Sun Bowl Arena before Kelowna improved to a perfect 4-0 by doubling the Golden Rockets Saturday at the Rutland Arena.

The Coyotes struggled to a 6-1 loss Saturday at 100 Mile House, while the Summerland Steam bounced back from a 31 home-ice loss to Golden on Friday to prevail 1-0 at Chase on Saturday.

The Steam are now 0-2 at home and 2-0 on the road.

SATURDAY – Steam 1 Chase 0: Justin Swan’s goal with 9:17 left in the first period stood up as the winner in Summerland’s win over the Heat.

Eric Scherger made 27 saves for his first KIJHL shutout while Geoff Drought managed 23 stops for Chase.

Chiefs 4 Golden 2: Veteran Brody Dale produced a hat-trick as Kelowna knocked off the visiting Rockets.

Zach Erhardt opened the scoring for Kelowna before Dale went to work, while Brendan Sime-Vivian and Dominic Turner clocked for the Rockets.

Kelowna led 2-1 and 3-2 at the period breaks and outshot Golden 34-25.

Dale leads the KIJHL with seven goals and 13 points in the four games.

100 Mile 6 Osoyoos 1: Six players shared the scoring as the Wranglers rolled to period leads of 3-0 and 5-1 to beat the Coyotes.

Garrett Hilton, Darian Long, James Pedersen, Cody Barnes, Dylan Carr and Aidan Morrison scored for 100 Mile, who were outshot 29-28. Tyler Bodger connected for the Coyotes (1-2-0).

FRIDAY – Chiefs 2 Coyotes 1: Juanre Naude’s goal with 4:08 left in the second period gave Kelowna the hard-fought win at Osoyoos.

Devin Sutton put the Chiefs up 1-0 after one and Carter Shannon tied the game for the Coyotes in the second.

Braeden Mitchell made 30 saves for the winners while Daniel Paul was terrific in a losing cause with 46 saves for Osoyoos.

Golden 3 Steam 1: Terrell Vekved’s shorthanded goal with 7:59 left in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and carried the Rockets to the road win.

Turner and Sime-Vivian with an emptynetter with 15 seconds left had the other goals for Golden, while Swan opened the scoring for the Steam.

Ryan Baker made 22 saves for the Rockets and Jared Breitkreuz stopped 29 shots for Summerland (2-2).

In games on Friday, Summerland visits Nelson while North Okanagan visits Kelowna. On Saturday, Kelowna makes the return trip to North OK, Summerland finishes up a road trip in Castlegar, while Osoyoos welcomes Revelstoke Grizzlies to the Sun Bowl in a 7:35 puck-drop.

ICE CHIPS: Nelson Leafs and Columbia Valley Rockies join Kelowna at 4-0 through two weeks of play. Revelstoke Grizzlies (1-0) are the only other unbeaten team, while Doug Birks Division squads Sicamous, Chase and Kamloops are all looking for their first wins. Kamloops (0-4) is the only team yet to register a point