The 100 Mile House Wranglers are the 2015-2016 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) Champions.
Our Okanagan/Shuswap Conference champs knocked off the Kootenay Conference and defending KIJHL champion Kimberley Dynamiters 2-1 in a nail-biting, ebb-and-flow barn-burner on March 31.
The Wranglers claimed the prestigious title in front of 760 appreciative fans who were on the edge of their seats for the full 60 minutes of Junior B hockey action.
The Wranglers had to withstand an early push by the Dynamiters, whose backs were against the wall being down 3-1 in the series and desperately looking for a victory so they could get back on home ice.
In the early going of the first period, Kimberley players came in waves on Wranglers goalie Zane Steeves who had been outstanding throughout the series.
With flashing leather and superlative scrambling, Steeves denied and frustrated the visitors by keeping the puck from going over the goal line.
Then about eight minutes into the period the Wranglers did what they do best – they started banging bodies.
It’s contagious with this group because as soon as one of them makes a big hit, everyone wakes up and the hit parade begins.
It wasn’t long after that the free-wheeling Dynamiters were hemmed into a phone booth and looking over their shoulders.
Then it was the Wranglers turn to start putting heat on Kimberley goalie Trevor Brouwer by getting shots on him and crashing the net.
Brouwer, who made some great saves during the game, worked hard to make sure the puck didn’t end up in the back of his net.
With Trey Doell in the sin bin for hooking, Doug Birks Division scoring leader Brett Harris (Austin Turner, Ryan Friesen) rippled the twine at 7:46 of the first period on a power play.
The Wranglers tried to push their advantage but back-to-back, head-shaker penalties stalled the home team’s momentum.
The Dynamiters came out charging in the second period with their high-speed, pin-point passing game and started to dominate the play.
With two minutes to go in the second, Eric Buckley (Jared Marchi, Sawyer Hunt) scored after significant pressure in the Wranglers end.
Knotted at one goal apiece, tension hung over the home-town crowd during the second intermission as the score clock ticked down to start the third period.
However, there was energetic burst of enthusiasm when the home-town boys came out for the third with a crash-and-bang attitude.
Kimberley was willing to play that game for a few minutes, but they backed down a bit after the Wranglers put together a series of thunderous hits.
The home-town boys kept grinding away, pressuring the Kimberley net and keeping the puck in the offensive end.
Then Brady Ward, who lives in 100 Mile House, came off the bench with a little more than four minutes in the third. His linemates – Cole Zimmerman and Stephen Egan – were controlling the puck along the back boards, so Ward stopped at the left faceoff dot and then crept in towards the net.
Egan pulled the Kimberley defenceman away from the net and made a perfect pass to Ward who one-timed it past Brouwer.
The Wranglers and the crowd erupted in unison when the red light went on.
Kimberley pulled goalie Tyson Brouwer for the extra attacker and threw everything and everyone at the Wranglers’ net in a desperate attempt to get the tying goal.
Steeves was spectacular as he held his ground for the last four minutes of the game.
Coach’s bytes
Wranglers coach Dale Hladun says he’s very pleased Ward scored the winning goal of the league playoffs.
“This local boy finished his career in the KIJHL by scoring the championship goal for the first ever KIJHL title in 100 Mile House, so that’s kind of a befitting thing because he’s a great local player and a great local kid.”
He notes he is proud of all of his players.
“Those guys were hungry to do that all year. They pushed themselves in the gym and on the ice to win a title, and I’m happy they got the result they aimed for.
“Kimberley was a helluva team, but we ran the show.”
Hladun says he was happy with the pace his boys maintained during the game.
“[Kimberley] had to try to beat our game, but they couldn’t do it. The boys did an outstanding job killing penalties.
“Zane Steeves was second to none, as we all knew the whole year, but the league didn’t know about it until now.”
From top to bottom, we had a new group of heroes every night in that whole series and throughout the playoffs, Hladun says.
“I think the kids epitomize what 100 Mile is. They work hard, they persevere, they take on the challenges, and I think they are outstanding representatives of the community.”
Noting he had a couple of conversations and received text messages from fans, the coach says he couldn’t believe how emotional the fans were.
“They became overwhelmed and even choked up when the trophy was coming in and it wasn’t quite being presented yet because there was three minutes left. They were emotionally linked with the team.”
The Wranglers move onto the four-team, round-robin Cyclone Taylor Cup in Victoria running today (April 7) until April 10.
See page A20 of this edition for details.
