SFU closes out regular season with big win over Coyotes on Senior Night

On Seniors’ Night at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Saturday, three cornerstones of the Simon Fraser University Men’s Hockey team finished off great careers with a great play to clinch a 3-2 season finale win over Okanagan College.

Captain Paul Moscone, Jaime Laprise and Jas Rai all assisted on Kyle Boyko’s game-winning goal to lead the Clan past Okanagan College 3-2. It was a tic-tac-toe passing play on the power play that ended up on Boyko’s stick and behind Coyotes’ starter Sunny Gill.

“They talked about a couple minutes before,” says SFU head coach Mark Coletta. “Paul was going to get up high and fire the puck down to Jaime on the post, instead of skating it. We’ve been working on that play for a while. Boyko snuck in off the bench and it worked.”

The decisive goal came after Okanagan College evened the score 2-2 midway through the final frame.

“I think the boys realized [in the third] there’s some seniors in that room that could go out losing their last regular season game,” says Coletta. “They stuck up for each other and battled hard.”

But the home side kept battling into the third and came through in the end, wanting the 900 fans in the building to go home happy.

“The third period we really came out and played well, so I was happy about the way the game ended. Everything going into the playoffs is positive, especially with the four wins against the top teams in the league,” Coletta says.

The Clan may have got the better of the Coyotes on Saturday, but it’s only the beginning. The teams will face off in the first round of the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey playoffs on March 23 at Bill Copeland.

In two weeks, it will be a new-look Okanagan team with the Coyotes welcoming back their top defensemen, Dave Mann and Andrew Rebus -- not to mention top scorer Brady Mason up front.

“They’re a good skating team and they move the puck well. Keep in mind they were missing some of their best players, and probably one of the better defenseman [Mann] in the league. We’ve got a lot of respect for that team,” says Coletta.

And while they’ll play as the second seed, there’s no hotter team entering the tournament than SFU. The squad’s riding a five-game winning streak and have only lost once in the New Year with a 9-1-1 mark.