Given the choice, the North Okanagan Knights would rather face the Kamloops Storm than the Revelstoke Grizzlies in the first round of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League playoffs.
A win against the host Grizz in their final regular-season game Saturday night at the Forum would have got the Knights (18-29-1-1) partway there. They also needed the Kelowna Chiefs to ground the Sicamous Eagles (17-26-2-4) to take over third place in the Doug Birks Division.
“You look at their records (Revelstoke is 39-9-0-1, Kamloops is 24-23-0-2) and that would be anybody’s preference,” said North Okanagan head coach Sylvain Leone.
Even if the Knights do face Rylan Ferster’s Grizzlies, Leone believes they can turn it into a battle.
“We had trouble with Revelstoke earlier in the season, but we’re a different team than we were then,” he said.
North Okanagan fell 6-0 to the first-place Osoyoos Coyotes Friday night at Sun Bowl.
After a scoreless first period, the high octane Coyotes (41-2-2-4) exploded with three goals in both the second and third periods. Second star Thierry Martine led the offence with 2+1.
“We had a good first period, but then we got impatient and started to freelance a bit and the game opened up,” said Leone.
The Knights will visit either the Storm or Grizz for games 1 and 2 of the first round playoffs Monday and Tuesday night respectively.
