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The 100 Mile House ended the first half of their campaign on a high note

The team beat the Osoyoos Coyotes 2-1 before heading into the Christmas break
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Miles Minor makes a save during a home game earlier this season. The current record of the Wranglers is 14-11-1-0-3 for 32 points. They enter the KIJHL’s Christmas break in second place of the Doug Birks Division. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.

The 100 Mile House Wranglers of the Kootenay International Hockey Junior League (KIJHL) go into the Christmas break with 14 wins and 32 points after beating the Osoyoos Coyotes 2-1 on Dec. 15.

“That was a good way to finish the first half of the season,” said Dale Hladun, head coach and general manager of the team.

After a slump playing some of the tougher teams in the league, who Hladun said they played well against, the Wranglers had a player meeting to discuss how the club wanted to play down the stretch.

“I think we’re on track. In our last ten games, we only have two regulation losses. We’ve got six wins and we got points in the other two games, so the kids are certainly turning the corner and I think we’re on our way upwards,” said Hladun.

Roughly a six hour drive, Hladun said the bus ride to Osoyoos was a long one and the team talked about retaining focus by keeping the warm-up and pre-game preparation intense.

Hladun said the first period was “just full of cheesy little penalties,” with the team on the penalty kill six times. He said it wasn’t a good period to watch overall.

However, it settled down in the second.

According to Hladun, the Wranglers were the best team through the whole game even though they were outshot (39 to 31) due to being on the penalty kill 10 times.

However, the Coyotes failed to capitalize on the powerplay.

Neither of the two teams scored a goal until the third period, with both Wrangler goals coming from Garrett Hilton.

“Hilton was outstanding,” said Hladun. “Hilton scored a powerplay goal and then he forechecked hard and stole a puck and scored a shorthanded goal. He was just our clutch player.”

The Coyotes, in the form of Blake Astorino, answered with their lone goal with just over a minute left in the game.

“Miles Minor, I felt a little bad for him. He lost his shutout with a minute and 39 seconds left… He was screened, he couldn’t see it. It would have been nice for him to get the shutout on the last day [before the Christmas break],” said Hladun.

The 18-year-old Winnipegger joined the team in late November and has since posted four wins in eight games. He has yet to get a shutout in his short KIJHL career.

Other players Hladun mentioned as having a good game were C.J. Zimmerman, Ryan McMann and Kolby Page.

“I was watching him during the game [Page] and I just thought there isn’t another captain in the KIJHL that works as hard and puts in the effort as Kolby does. He just finishes hits and skates hard and leads by action,” said Hladun.

With the Christmas break for the KIJHL here, the players will be going home and will return on Dec. 28 and 29 for the KIJHL Showcase in Kamloops. All of the league’s teams will be there and will play two games.

The 100 Mile House Wranglers will play the league’s most recent champion in the Kimberley Dynamiters, and the Spokane Braves. The three-day (Dec. 27-29) event hosted at McArthur Park will also have a lot of scouts from Junior A and colleges in Canada and the U.S. in attendance.

This is the first time the league has done this.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Hladun. “I think the fans if they’re looking for something to do over the holidays, it could be worth watching a couple of games. There will be some teams they haven’t seen because of the interlock. So they will be able to meet some of the other Kootenay teams they haven’t seen or teams we had to go to like Columbia or Fernie.”

The Wranglers face off against the Dynamiters at 5 p.m on Dec. 28.

You can buy tickets for the showcase from the league website. Day passes and individual game tickets are available.