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100 Mile Wranglers get tripped up by Nelson and Kelowna

New goalie added, preparing for upcoming games
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Easton Jolie celebrates his second goal and the Nelson Leaf’s third goal in the second period during their 3-1 win over the 100 Mile House Wranglers on Nov. 10. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.

The 100 Mile House Wranglers of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) are now 1-2 in November after losing to the Nelson Leafs 3-1 on Nov. 10 and 6-4 to Kelowna on Nov. 13.

“Nelson is good,” said head coach and general manager Dale Hladun. “They got a lot of exciting players, so I knew they’d be very competitive.”

Hladun isn’t wrong. Nelson is on the top of the Neil Murdoch Division of the Kootenay Conference with a 14-4-1-1-0 record. Overall, they are in fourth place behind Kelowna (17-0-1-0-2), Revelstoke (17-1-0-0-0) and Kimberley (17-3-0-0-0).

Nelson has also scored 80 goals this season so far, a 22 difference between the two clubs.

The first two goals in the game were scored by Nelson in the first period by Reid Vulcano and Easton Jolie. Hladun said he felt goalie Jakub Gullmess was a little off his game and took him out after the first period in favour of newcomer Greg Moon.

“I felt we started extremely flat after a good week of practice. I was so disappointed in our effort,” said Hladun. “We talked about being a tough team to play against at home. We hardly finished any hits.”

Hladun said Moon came into the game alright but the young American goalie is still trying to find his footing with his new club and that he still isn’t in top game shape.

He did say the team looked more keyed into the game after the first period, despite Jolie scoring his second goal of the game.

The Wranglers didn’t score until the third period with four minutes left in the form of Harley Bootsma via Kolby Page and Garrett Hilton.

“In the third period, I thought we were the stronger team but all we did was run out of time,” said Hladun.

He added that he’s not upset, though he isn’t happy they lost either, but there are pieces in the club’s game that he is happy about. He also said he couldn’t be that hard on this team too often because it is one of the youngest rosters in the league.

“They need the experience of winning but they also need the experience of losing and also the accountability,” he said. “It’s going to take us the whole season in my opinion, to get where we got to be but we’ll be ready. We’ll be ready when it really counts.”

The Wranglers were only shorthanded four times during the game and managed to keep the Nelson power-play unit out of the net.

Discipline has been an issue with the club, despite having one of the stronger penalty kill units in the league and Hladun said he’s happy that players didn’t take any lazy penalties. However, he did say sometimes if players aren’t taking many penalties, he wonders if they are actually engaged.

The head coach did say he thought the defence has been playing strongly, mentioning Ben Keon, Aidan Morrison and Jaxon Passeri. However, it was Kyle Haugo he had the most words for.

“He does so many little things that might go unnoticed by the fans but he doesn’t lose many one-on-ones. He makes good little puck chips. I mean, I think Kyle has been such a strong positive influence on our club. I can’t say enough about Kyle.”

Hladun has also added a new goaltender in the form of Miles Minor, from Winnipeg.

The butterfly goalie played last season with the Winnipeg Wild Midget AAA, where he played in 28 games with a GAA of 2.25 and a save percentage of .914 in the regular season and a 2.23 GAA and .935 save percentage in nine games during the playoffs. The team won the championship, with him being awarded the Manitoba Midget Hockey League Goaltender of the Year and being named to the Second All-Star Team.

This season he has played six games for the Portage Terriers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. He left the team with a 3.28 GAA and a .890 save percentage.

The Wranglers will play the Revelstoke Grizzlies back-to-back on Nov. 17 and 18.

“We definitely have the measuring stick to see where we’re at,” said Hladun about the upcoming games.


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100 Mile House Wranglers goalie Greg Moon makes a save against Nelson Leafs forward David Sanchez during the Wranglers 3-1 loss at home on Nov. 10. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.
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Garrett Hilton of the Wranglers barrels down towards the Nelson Leaf’s net during his team’s 3-1 lose to the visiting side on Nov. 10. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.
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Nathan Christensen of the Kelowna Chiefs celebrates a teammate’s goal during their 6-4 win against the 100 Mile House Wranglers on Nov. 14. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.