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The power play was again a major factor on Saturday as the Kelowna Chiefs won their second straight game to start the 2019-20 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season.
Scoring on three of five opportunities with the man advantage, the Chiefs doubled the Sicamous Eagles 4-2, following up a 5-2 victory over the Summerland Steam on Friday in which they also scored three times on the power play.
Kayson Gallant, one of only a handful of returnees from the team that finished first overall in last season’s regular season, scored twice to lead the Chiefs — one goal on the PP to open the scoring midway through the second period and the other into an empty net with four seconds remaining.
Homegrown talent came through for the Chiefs as Blain Worthing and Logan Keating, both Kelowna Minor Hockey Association products, scored their first KIJHL goals. Keating’s goal came at 9:01 of the third period and stood up as the winner. Kaden Meszaros, another KMHA graduate, assisted on both goals.
The Chiefs, doubling the Eagles in shots as well (40-20), played to a scoreless tie in the first period and led 2-1 going into the third. Sicamous pulled even on James Lalikeas’s goal four minutes into the final frame before Keating put the visitors up for good.
Rookie Michael Toole, who played with the Calgary Midget AAA Flames last season, picked up his first KI win in goal for the Chiefs by stopping 18 of the 20 shots he faced.
The Chiefs will make their home debut Sept. 20 at the Rutland Arena beginning at 7 p.m. and will pay tribute to Grant Sheridan, their former team president and general manager who died from bacterial meningitis in July.
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