Last week was a busy one for the 100 Mile House Wranglers Junior B Hockey Club, as it hosted a British Columbia Hockey League Junior A game at South Cariboo Rec. Centre on Aug. 28, and it made a couple of trades.
First, the club traded the Hockey Canada playing rights of 19-year-old defenceman Wade Cline to the Revelstoke Grizzlies of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL).
In return, the Wranglers will receive future considerations, which general manager/head coach Doug Rogers says will help the club continue to build its on-ice product.
The Wranglers initially acquired Cline from the Chase Heat of the KIJHL earlier in the summer to add experience and depth to team’s defensive corps.
In the second move of the week, the Wranglers acquired 19-year-old Williams Lake resident Darcy Flaherty from the KIJHL’s Creston Valley Thundercats. The six-foot, 185-pound Flaherty can play both forward and defence, Rogers says, and will be entering his third KIJHL season.
The Wranglers gave up future considerations, which were not related to the Cline deal, to acquire Flaherty.
Flaherty has accumulated 17 goals, 15 assists in 88 career KIJHL games.
Meanwhile, the club picked up some revenue from the Prince George Spruce Kings/Vernon Vipers BCHL Junior A exhibition game, as close to 300 tickets were sold for a spirited tilt that ended 3-1 in Vernon's favour.
The Wranglers also got a good start on selling souvenir T-shirts, which people will have to wear to get into the club's lone pre-season home game against the Kamloops Storm on Sept 11.
The cost for this clever keepsake T-shirt, marking the Wranglers inaugural season in the KIJHL, is $20.
Club president Tom Bachynski says the Wranglers will be going to local businesses to sell the T-shirts and ask staff members wear them to let customers know about the big game on Sept. 11.
The Wranglers pre-season schedule starts with a road trip to Kamloops against the Storm on Sept. 4, and then they travel to Princeton to take on the Posse on Sept. 7.
The Wranglers start the regular season on the road against Golden Rockets on Sept. 13, Bachynski says.
"So if there are some hockey fans out there who want to get tickets to watch the Wranglers' first [regular season] game, you have to get a hold of Kersti Foote at the office at (250-395-4344) and we'll buy a group of tickets in Golden.
"I'm going and I hope a bunch of other people will make the pilgrimage over there."
Regarding the search for volunteers, the club president says he would like to get a couple of big commitments from some people.
"We have some bus drivers [for the team bus] who can do some trips, but we don't have a bus driver who says, 'I'll do the majority of the trips'," he says, adding the club would pay, feed and lodge a driver, but they want someone doing most of the driving so the players can have a relaxed comfort level on the road trips.
The club is still looking for a videographer, as well as a play-by-play announcer and a colour commentator for the home games.
There is room for more volunteers to sell tickets and sell merchandise at the Booster Club booth.
"If you can work 10 or 12 home games, come and see us please," the club president says.
To become a valued member of the Wranglers’ volunteer team, contact the Wranglers’ office at (250-395-4344) or e-mail office@100milewranglers.com.
Bachynski says the players will need some part-time jobs for four to six hours a day, but they would have t be flexible, so the boys don't have to work weekends because they will have play games most weekends.
"We need to get these guys busy, working and earning their keep in town, so if you have something they can do, let us know – whether it's sweeping out a shop or delivering pizza – we need to know who you are, so we can get you hooked up."