The Wranglers have a one-point lead over the Kamloops Storm for first place in the Doug Birks Division of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey but the 100 Mile House boys want to cement that position by beating the Storm in their barn on Friday night (Feb. 19).
With only two games left in the regular season, coach Dale Hladun says Friday night is ‘huge” for his boys and he likes their chances.
The Wranglers picked up four points last weekend with a 3-2 victory in Sicamous against the Eagles on Feb.12 and the 5-2 win in Revelstoke against the Grizzlies the following night.
The victory against the Grizzlies launched them into first place because the Storm got shutout 5-0 by the Chase Heat the same night.
Eagles declawed
In a playoff-style game, the Wranglers roped and tied the Eagles 3-2, with Alex Meeker (Ryan Friesen and Tate Page) scoring the lone goal of the first period.
There was no scoring in the second stanza.
However, Sicamous tied the game at 8:51 of the third, before Michael Lynch (Cole Zimmerman, Brett Harris) put the Wranglers up 2-1 with just under four minutes left in the third.
It looked like the teams were headed to overtime when Sicamous knotted the score again with 34 seconds left in the third.
Meeker (Alex Hanson, Harris) found the back of the net with one second left on the clock for the victory.
Meeker was the Wranglers game star and Adam Derochie picked up the win by stopping 31 of 33 shots.
Grizzlies mauled
This tilt was a penalty filled affair with the Grizzlies trying to run the Wranglers out of the rink – it didn’t work.
Although the Wranglers gave up the first goal, Harris (Tyler Povelofskie) had the team’s tied at one each at the end of the first.
Harris (Lynch) popped a power-play marker at 18:45 of the second, but the teams skated off knotted at two for the second intermission.
However, it was all 100 Mile House in the third with three unanswered goals by Hanson (Harris, Povelofskie), Hanson (Harris) and Lynch (Meeker).
Hladun says he was impressed with his players over the weekend because they played great with a short bench and up against a couple of competitive squads.
While they are allowed to dress 20 guys for the games, the Wranglers only had 16 for the Sicamous tilt and Povelofskie drove all day Saturday from Williams Lake to get to Revelstoke so 100 Mile House had 17 players against the Grizzlies.
“A couple of our guys played with painful injuries in Revelstoke, so I’m impressed with how the kids overcame a lot of adversity.
“The warrior of the weekend was Tate Page. He took a vicious hit from behind in a few games ago against Kelowna and he was really hurt – kind of whiplash in shoulders and neck area.
“He knew how shorthanded we were; he played a physical game and between every period, [trainer] Rainer Meyer would massage him and crack his back. I just couldn’t believe how much pain that kid could play with … he was so important to us it was nuts.”
Hladun adds a lot of the players have nagging injuries they’re playing through because they want to win the division title for the 100 Mile House fans.
Noting the Wranglers are third in the league over all and have only lost one game in regulation play since Dec. 30, Hladun likes their chances going into the playoffs.
“We have to work on the power play and we’re moving the puck around really well with [converted offensive stalwarts] Austin Turner and Lynch on the points.”
The Wranglers last regular season home game is against the Chase Heat on Feb. 20, starting at 7 p.m.
