He just wants to get noticed.
That’s what new 100 Mile House Wranglers’ goalie, Jordan Wilde, has his eyes sighted on this season.
Drafted to the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades in 2015, a broken ankle during his first training camp with the Saskatchewan-based franchise saw him return back to the Pursuit of Excellence Academy in Kelowna before heading to the Kamloops Storm of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) in the 2017-18 season.
He appeared in 33 games for the Storm, posting a 3.23 GAA and .913 save percentage in the regular season. He also played in six playoff games. His performance as the Storm’s shot-stopper earned him a spot on the Dryden Ice Dogs in the Superior International Junior A Hockey League (SIJHL). The SIJHL is based in Northern Ontario, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Despite playing in 27 games for the Ice Dogs, Wilde was unhappy in Dryden and decided to leave.
“I waited to play closer to home so I talked to Kamloops and I wasn’t going to go back there because I have friends on the team and I didn’t want to take away from their spots. I got a call from Duner [Dale Hladun - head coach and general manager of the Wranglers] and he said his part and he said ‘welcome to 100 Mile’ by the end of the call. Kind of unexpected but…”
So far this season, Wilde has been an instrumental part of the team and their campaign in the KIJHL. He has played 12 games so far, collecting seven wins with a GAA of 2.58 and a save percentage of .920.
“I love it here,” he said. “Number one reason is they’re hosting the cup [Cyclone Tayor Cup] at the end of the year, but it’s a good group of guys. I was kind of nervous at first with [it being] a small town but it’s easy. It’s a simple life here.”
He said his favourite part of the season so far is the four-game win streak they are on as of Saturday, Nov. 23. The team has also gone 7-2-1 in the last ten games.
“All the guys are finally glueing together.”
As one of the oldest guys in the group, Wilde doesn’t call himself a mentor but said he’s definitely working on motivating the younger players, particularly the two younger goalies, Caelan Armstrong and Jakob Gullmes.
“That’s for them to say [whether I’m their ‘mentor’ or not] honestly, but I do my best to motivate them to work hard in practice and off the ice, even in warm-ups. Just trying to stay focused.”
After all, he’s trying to bring a cup to 100 Mile House and get noticed with the aims of playing college hockey next year.
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