Despite missing a few key players, the 100 Mile House Wranglers had a win and a loss on Dec. 20-21 before enjoying the Christmas break.
The Wranglers knocked off the Revelstoke Grizzlies 4-3 in Revelstoke on Dec. 20, but suffered a 3-2 loss to the Sicamous Eagles in 100 Mile House the next night.
Revelstoke rumble
The night belonged to the special teams, as the Grizzlies opened the scoring with a power play marker.
However, the Wranglers notched three extra man goals for a 3-1 lead. The 100 Mile goal scorers were Jordan Low (Lane van de Wetering, Bradley Williams), Tyson Levesque (van de Wetering, Braeden St. Louis), and Connor Sloan (Levesque, van de Wetering).
Low notched the game winner at 11:28 of the third period on assists from Levesque and Brady Ward.
Kristian Stead stopped 33 of 36 Grizzlies shots for the victory.
GM/coach Doug Rogers says the game was extremely dirty and the minimum number of penalties called do not reflect the style of play.
"Our players battled hard. It is difficult to get a win on the road at anytime, but our guys found a way to get it done. This is a very good step for us."
Eagles nip Wranglers
Despite outshooting Sicamous 46-33, the hometown Wranglers fell 3-2 in what Rogers called an up-and-down effort.
The Wranglers opened the scoring with a goal from Robert Orrey (Stephan Egan, William Orrey).
However, Sicamous notched two markers, including a power play goal for too many men on the ice, to take the lead, before Williams (van de Wetering, Sloan) sent the teams to their respective dressing rooms deadlocked at two apiece.
Sicamous claimed the two points on a goal with less than four minutes remaining in the final frame.
"We had enough opportunities to score a third goal but could not beat [Eagles net minder Kris] Joyce – he played well," says Rogers.
"The third goal for Sicamous was scored due to a line change issue. The issue/mistake was my fault at the bench, not the players. I need to take ownership of that and not leave it on the players."
The Wranglers had a few key players out of the lineup on the weekend.
Luke Santerno missed both games, as he played for Merritt on Friday night (Dec. 20) and returned with the flu and could not play on Saturday.
Donovan Law is still out with a lower body injury and isn't expected back until the new year.
Matt Wojak was also unavailable for the Sicamous game after being hit from behind in Revelstoke the night before.
Nathan Warren was at home in Prince George due to a family medical issue and was not available.
Warren will likely not play again for the Wranglers, as he has Junior A teams showing interest in him in both British Columbia and Manitoba, Rogers says, adding he will probably take one of these options.
"If he does make the jump to Junior A permanently, he will be the first player in the Wranglers history to move on. This is a great sign for the organization and great opportunity for Nathan.
"We are actively looking for a goaltender to replace Nathan on our roster."
The Wranglers have had incredible results so far in their inaugural season in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League.
100 Mile currently sits in second place in the Doug Birks Division standings with 38 points. Only division run-away leader Kamloops has more with 57.
In fact, there are only a handful of teams in the league that have more points than the Wranglers.
They include: Creston (42), Eddie Mountain Division; Nelson (54), and Beaver Valley (49), Neil Murdoch Division; and Kelowna (49) and Osoyoos (40), Okanagan Division.
However, Rogers says the Wranglers have a "very tough" schedule after the Christmas break, including numerous games against top tier teams – Kamloops, Kelowna, Osoyoos and Fernie.
"Our players will need to play extremely well as a group to compete with these teams and I think we can. Our schedule before the break was much easier than our schedule will be after the break.
"I would like to thank the community of 100 Mile House for its great support to date. The support they give our players has exceeded everyone's expectations – thank you!"