Despite handing the 100 Mile House Wranglers a 5-3 loss at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre on Oct. 3, Devan Suidy isn’t too concerned about the Kamloops Storm.
The captain, who leads the Wranglers in scoring with 11 points in seven games, speaks with a lot of confidence.
Ahead of the game, coach Dale Hladun said it would be an early test of where the Wranglers (4-3) are in the Doug Birks Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL). Kamloops (4-3) won the division last year and dispatched the Wranglers in round two of the playoffs.
The Storm notched the first two goals – and outshot the Wranglers 9-3 – in the first 20 minutes on Oct. 3. For the next 40, the Wranglers matched them in goals and shots.
“I’m not too worried about Kamloops this year,” Suidy says. “I thought we really improved as the game went on. We have a lot of young guys on the team. It’s still early and they’re still getting used to the league and the pace and everything. The fact that we came back said a lot.”
Suidy scored the Wranglers’ third goal with one second left in the third period and assisted on their first score of the game, tallied by Lane van de Wetering.
The 20-year-old captain is playing his third season in the KIJHL. He was traded to the Wranglers at the beginning of the season. His assessment of the club so far: “We have a crazy amount of depth on this team.”
“This could be a championship team, no problem,” Suidy adds. “We have some serious skill. We have to go out there and grind it out. We should be at the top, if not close to the top, of the league all year. Anything below that is kind of disappointing because we know how good we are.”
Suidy, playing on the first line alongside veterans Cole Zimmerman and van de Wetering, has never started a season this hot before, and his acquisition is a huge bright side for the Wranglers. He’s hovering around the league’s top 10 in scoring with a few games in hand.
He credits his line-mates.
“It’s like a dream to play with ‘Vandy’ and ‘Zim’,” he says. “Vandy can find you anywhere on the ice.”
Suidy is right about that.
van de Wetering, who might have been the only guy in the rink to see the play as a possibility before he made it happen with 5:35 left in the second period, made a very impressive pass look easy leading to the Wranglers’ second goal of the game. van de Wetering, a left-handed shot, was off to the goalie’s right side in Kamloops’ zone skating toward the corner and, without much of a look, he feathered a pass back up through the middle, between a few Storm players, right onto a striding Jayden Syrota’s stick as the defenceman broke into the slot. Syrota, also a left-handed shot, buried the puck low blocker side.
“Basically all you have to do with those guys is have your stick on the ice and they’ll find you,” adds Suidy. “They make it pretty easy.”
However, it’s not easy beating Kamloops, especially with a short bench.
The Wranglers missed defenceman Nick Headrick, who was called up to the Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL), while Riley Harder and Nathan Klaczek were out with injuries. Michael Lynch was sick, and a number of boys were benched because they “forgot what time school starts.”
The Wranglers need a full roster on their ‘A’ game if they want to beat the Storm, coach Hladun says.
“I’m [upset] we lost, but I’m not panicking. I think there were positives [on the ice]. The other positive is hopefully messages have been sent and received.”
Hladun highlighted the play of Brett Harris, Micky Turner and Syrota, while stressing motivation, preparation and seeing more from guys at practice.
“We have two philosophies we run with,” he adds. “It’s all practice to the playoffs and you have to give yourself a chance to win.”
Syrota tallied one goal and two assists and took player of the game honours for the home team.
Goalie Kristian Stead, who is expected to join the Merritt Centennials of the BCHL for a few games while that club deals with an injury in their lineup, made 22 saves.
Up next, the Wranglers host the Princeton Posse () on Oct. 10 and meet the Eagles in Sicamous () on Oct. 11.
Suidy was moved to 100 Mile from Princeton in a trade for forward Connor Sloan. Hladun, a former Princeton coach, recruited Suidy in 2012-13. As a Langley house league product before moving up to Junior B, Suidy says Hladun took some risk signing him that year.
“He’s a hell of a coach,” Suidy says. “I’m surprised more players don’t follow him around like I did.”
Asked about facing his former team this weekend, he answers: “I can’t wait.”
