The 100 Mile House Wranglers dropped the first game of the Doug Birks division final series in a 5-3 loss against the Kamloops Storm on Mar. 14.
The first period saw Jaden Rusznak score his third goal of the playoffs 2:46 into the first period, assisted by Kole Duquette and Luke McFarlane to take a 1-0 lead for the Wranglers. But the Storm equalized with a power-play goal from Luke Rothfos 5:55 in the first, assisted by Ryan Larsen and Hayden Selin to tie the game. The power play was due to Landen Janz of the Wranglers receiving a slashing call.
Another penalty taken, this time by Wranglers player Tyler Smoluk for tripping, led to Ben Filippone of the Storm scoring and giving the Storm a 2-1 lead with his third goal of the playoffs, assisted by Ryan Larsen. At 19:25 in the first, Kamloops' David Ander added his second goal of the playoffs, giving the Storm a 3-1 lead.
Wranglers head coach and GM Levi Stuart told the 100 Mile Free Press that the Wranglers have to push through the penalties they are getting.
"At the end of the day, you're never going to win a hockey game when you're in the box eight or nine times like that," Stuart said.
The second period saw no goals from either team, however, multiple fights broke out between players - leading to several power play opportunities for both teams. Neither ended up capitalizing, as both Wranglers goalie Tyson Endall and Storm goalie Brenner Fyfe stopped all the shots taken in the second period.
The third period saw a explosion of goals from both teams. The Wranglers, 7:11 in the third period, saw Luke McFarlane score his second goal of the playoffs assisted by Jaden Rusznak - making the game 3-2 in favour of the Storm. Stuart said that McFarlane had a strong performance in the game.
"He got rewarded with a goal and he's a guy that always does things the right way and keeps positive on the bench," Stuart said, praising McFarlane.
However, the Storm fired back as over a minute later Teghan Mullin scored his second goal of the playoffs, doubling the Kamloops lead. The goal was assisted by Noah Palsen and Filippone. A penalty taken by Storm player Luke Rothfos for holding led to Janz scoring his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Riley Langille, cutting the Storm lead to 4-3 15:08 into the third period.
Around eight seconds later, the Storm scored giving them a 5-3 lead, with Nikolas Dimopoulos scoring his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Ander.
Stuart says that the Wranglers need to clean up things defensively.
"They score a couple of goals right after within 10 seconds of us scoring goals. So it's being ready off that next open draw after we score a goal," Stuart said.
The Storm won the game 5-3, and lead the series 1-0. The series is best of seven, meaning the first team to get four wins will move on.
The next game is scheduled for Saturday, Mar. 15 and will see the Wranglers face off against the Storm for game two of the Doug Birks division final at the South Cariboo Rec Centre in 100 Mile House. Game three is scheduled for Mar. 17 at the McArthur Park Arena in Kamloops, as well as game four, which is set to take place on Mar. 18. All games start at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on FloSports.
