The 100 Mile House Wranglers battled through adversity in a home to home series against the Kamloops Storm on Jan. 27 and 28.
Defencemen and rookie Brevin Gervais suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm on Jan. 26 and spent a portion of the day on Jan. 27 in emergency surgery.
"It definitely affected us very powerfully emotionally, but I still thought the kids put on a brave face and put in a very good effort to try and play both games against Kamloops," says Wranglers head coach Dale Hladun.
The Kamloops Storm pushed the 100 Mile House Wranglers to a 6-4 loss on Jan. 27.
While the Wranglers kept pace with the Storm for most of the first period, Kamloops scored two goals within a minute of each other to take an early lead 2-0.
Sam Bosek (Garrett Hilton, James Gordon) turned the tide back to the Wranglers with a goal at 10:04 but were matched by a power play goal by the Storm at 8:29.
Justin Bond (Todd Bredo, Kevin Fillier) and Rob Raju (Frazer Dodd) tied the game 3-3 at 4:15, scoring two goals in quick succession at 6:05 and 4:15 but it wasn't enough. The Storm scored one more goal to take back the lead two minutes later, ending the period 4-3 for Kamloops.
Jakob Severson took over for Clay Stevenson in net to start the second period. Despite the change, the Storm scored two more points in the second period, leaving the 100 Mile boys shut out.
Sam Bosek, who was awarded a second game star, skated his way to an unassisted power play goal late in the third, but there was no coming back for the Wranglers.
"It's tough," says Hladun. "Our mental focus was all over the map, but the effort certainly wasn't. The guys put in a good effort and I couldn't be prouder of all the kids."
On home ice on Jan. 28, the Wranglers faced the Kamloops Storm again. Still affected by the loss of their teammate, the smaller team put up a strong effort against the Storm.
Solid goaltending by Jakob Severson limited the Storm to three points during the game. The Storm snuck one past him at 12:06 during the first period, but despite some solid chances by the Storm, Severson maintained the 1-0 lead throughout the second period.
Even with 28 shots on net to the Storm's 24, the Wranglers were unable to squeeze one past Kolby Pauwels, the Kamloops goaltender.
A goal at 12:07 by the Storm and an empty netter at the end of the third sealed it for the Wranglers, who lost 3-0. Austin Turner skated through an injury to be awarded a game star for the game.
Hladun says he couldn't be prouder of his team.
Kevin Fillier was a stand-out player during both games, says Hladun. Fillier is Gervais' billet brother.
"Kevin had a hell of a weekend. He was amazing. He worked so hard for Brevin," he says.
"I wasn't disappointed in any of the kids. There were some mental mistakes, I get that, but the guys came and they care, so that's all that matters right now. There is a will to win and we've got to cultivate it and use it."
The losses this weekend put the team six points behind the division leaders, the Chase Heat.
The team will need a combination of math and some key wins during their last seven games to take the division title, says Hladun, but the focus for the next few games won't necessarily be on points.
"Right now you can't focus on winning. You have to focus on duties," he says. "You focus on what you can control. We've got to work on our special teams, we've got to work on our forechecking and we've got to clearly define the roles amongst all of our guys – whether it is their role as a player or their role as a leader."
Hladun says the goal will be for the team to hit their peak before playoffs.
"We have to be hitting our stride. We preach all year, 'It's all practice till the playoffs,' so we've got basically seven games of practice left."