The 100 Mile House Wranglers were outplayed by the Columbia Valley Rockies but beat the Chase Heat on home ice last weekend.
Against the Rockies, the Wranglers lost 5-2 on Friday, Nov. 17 with the Rockies dominating the game from start to finish. When the Heat challenged them on Saturday, Nov. 18 the Wranglers shut them out entirely beating them 4-0.
“The Columbia Valley Rockies are a good club. They’re first in their division and I thought we came out flat, they have a good power play and they got an early lead on us with three power play goals,” Hladun said. “Once we settled in I thought we played them pretty strong. We started slow but we rose to it.”
On Friday night the Wranglers got off to a slow start with the Rockies scoring three unanswered goals in the first period. In the second period, the Wranglers briefly rallied when Nathan Bohmer scored a goal only for the Rockies to answer it before the period ended.
Early in the third period, Wrangler Zachary Gull brought the team to within two points of the Rockies. Any chance of a comeback was stimied by the Rockies scoring their fifth and final goal not long after. Despite the loss Hladun said he felt his team finished strong, noting they were able to match the Rockies’ goals in the second and third periods.
Hladun said that when they faced Chase the next night they treated the game like it was the playoffs. The Heat and the Wranglers are currently competing for the fourth playoff spot and a loss here would have set the team back.
“We needed to get ahead of Chase. I thought the kids really battled hard,” Hladun said.
Throughout the game Wrangler goalie Ivan Tolsma faced 44 shots on net and still shut the Heat out. Hladun praised Tolsma’s performance, noting he considers him one of the best goalies in the league.
The game started out slow with the Wranglers not scoring any goals until the second period when Ethan Davey scored his first goal of the night. During the third period Davey scored a second goal followed by a hat trick goal bringing his total to three. Kelton Shinde, who assisted Davey on two of his goals, scored the Wrangler’s fourth goal on an empty net sealing their victory,
“Shinde and Davey have been combining for some spectacular goals, so it’s really good to see those young guys finding their way,” Hladun said.
While they didn’t put points on the board, Hladun said he felt Kaden Ernst and Ty Smoluk both had strong weekends and helped lead the team. With a chuckle, he remarked no one plays with more passion then Smoluk.
The Wranglers hit the road this weekend for two tough away games against the Beaver Valley Nitehawks and Castlegar Rebels. They’ll return to home ice on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 to take on the Golden Rockets and the North Okanagan Knights.
“You always want to win every game but at least winning the right games is a good sign. There’s a lot of confidence in the dressing room right now,” Hladun said.
