The 100 Mile House Wranglers got off to a sluggish start in game 2 of the Okanagan/Shuswap Conference championship playoffs, and it cost them dearly – a 2-1 defeat.
The Summerland Steam's Jarrett Malchow (Riley Pettitt, Calvin Hadley) got one by Wranglers goalie Zane Steeves 30 seconds into the first frame, and it seemed to take the wind out of the 100 Mile House players' sails.
The Steam went up two nothing when Paulsen Lautard (Jack Mills) found the back of the nest at 7:39 in the first.
Wrangler Justin Bond (Todd Bred, Nick McCabe) cut the lead in half at 10:51 of the second, but that was the end of the scoring for both teams.
The Wranglers travel to Summerland for game 3 and 4 on March 18-19, and the 100 Mile boys need to get a win to maintain home ice advantage.
Game 5 will be in 100 Mile House at the South Cariboo Rec. Centre, starting at 7 p.m.