The North Okanagan Knights took the Summerland Steam by storm Friday night, beating their division rivals 7-3 at home at Armstrong’s Nor-Val Arena in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) standings.
The Knights put up a dominant performance, nearly doubling the Steam in shots (49 to 26). They went two for three on the powerplay and got goals from seven different skaters.
In the first period, the Knights had 26 shots alone and collected three goals in that period to show for their efforts. The goals came from Richard Burden, Cash Anderson and Dane Dietz.
The Knights extended their lead to 4-0 on the powerplay when Devin Jameson scored his eighth goal of the season 32 seconds into the second period.
The Steam got one back just over a minute later, off the stick of Joseph Krukowski, but just past the eight minute mark of the middle frame, defenceman Nolan Schmit scored his first KIJHL goal to make it 5-1 Knights.
Luke Rishaug scored for the Knights five minutes later, and then Connor Nicolay beat the buzzer, scoring with five seconds left in the second period to make the score 6-2 after 40 minutes.
In the third, the Knights got their second powerplay goal of the night courtesy of Gage Parrell’s team-leading 13th goal of the season.
Nicolay would score his second of the night in garbage time to bring the game to its final score of 7-3.
The Knights have now won four of their last five games and are now somewhat comfortably in second place in the Bill Ohlhausen division, four points ahead of the Kelowna Chiefs with a game in hand. The Steam remain in the basement of the division with 20 points in 33 games played.
The Knights are at home again on Saturday, Jan. 20, as they take on the Osoyoos Coyotes at 7:15 p.m. The Steam are also playing at home Saturday against the Kamloops Storm at 7:30 p.m.
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