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Wranglers put in effort but lose two on home ice

The 100 Mile House Wranglers are still striving for conistency

The 100 Mile House Wranglers are looking for a victory after back-to-back defeats last weekend.

The Wranglers lost on home ice to the Sicamous Eagles Friday 4-1 before being shut out by the Princeton Posse 4-0 on Saturday. Despite this latest setback, coach Dale Hladun remains positive the team will turn things around.

“I thought overall the boys played a lot of good moments of hockey but it was just unfortunate. Against Princeton, they got three goals in the span of about four and a half minutes,” Hladun said. “They’re doing a lot of right things and they did push back and they’re getting chances to score. There’s a lot of good in their game but a lot of kids measure themselves by wins.”

Hladun said the Wranglers’ power play just “disappeared” this weekend. Even when he pulled the goalie during a double powerplay to give them a six-on-three advantage they barely got shots on the net. He chalked this up to his players being under pressure and falling back on what they know.

“I had defencemen going end to end during rushes and centermen going back on defence. The guys are making mistakes of effort, which is a good thing, but we need to start doing the right thing.”

The Wranglers’ sole goal this weekend was scored Friday by Nathan Bohmer with an assist from Jace Myers and Ethan Sanders. Hladun said he felt that goalie Ryder Gregga kept the team in the fight for most of the game and gave them an opportunity to win on Friday.

Against the Posse, Hladun said the Wranglers were fouled by “stupid penalties” which stalled their momentum. There were instances where the puck would be heading up the ice and the Wranglers would take a penalty for punching or slashing another player. While Hladun encourages an aggressive style of play, he said his players need to learn to be smart about it.

“You got to relate it to getting bit by a rattlesnake, there are two ways to handle it. You can either chase that thing and that poison races through you as your heart rate runs and you kill yourself,” Hladun said. “Or you mark it, go to the hospital, get fixed and then come back with a big shovel and beat the hell out of it. We’ve got to have a mindset like that, pick your time.”

Hladun said that thankfully none of the teams in the KIJHL are on a big winning streak so his team has time to rally and climb out of being bottom of their division. If they continue to put in the work ethic, he’s confident they’ll start winning games regularly again.

“I’ve always been taught there are two ways to grow something, you can either have a garden or an orchard. The garden you dig, get it done but it’s over in a year,” Hladun said.

“I feel we’re building an orchard here. We get the roots in, the culture growing and it takes longer to come together but once it’s there you’re picking fruit year-round every year.”

Hladun’s optimism proved well placed when the Wranglers bested the Chase Heat 5-1 on Tuesday, Nov. 15 on home ice.

The Wranglers will march in this week’s Santa Claus Parade in 100 Mile House before hosting the North Okanagan Knights on Saturday at 7 p.m.



patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net

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Patrick Davies

About the Author: Patrick Davies

An avid lover of theatre, media, and the arts in all its forms, I've enjoyed building my professional reputation in 100 Mile House.
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