The 100 Mile House Wranglers kicked off 2025 with a three-game winning streak.
On New Year's Day at the South Cariboo Rec Centre, the Wranglers blew out the Chase Heat 5-0 in a dominant performance. The Wranglers followed up this momentum with a on the road rematch against Chase with a 4-2 victory on Friday, Jan. 3 before travelling to Kamloops to defeat the Kamloops Storm 3-2 on Saturday, Jan. 4.
"Obviously a really good start to the New Year. Winning three in a row coming out of the break, four in a row with the one we won (Dec. 20) has been a really good start," Levi Stuart, the Wrangler's head coach, said. "It was good to get the jitters and turkey legs out (for the first one). The second one was another good one on the road, to beat Chase in Chase finally. The last one in Kamloops there was a big win and big for us to get a few points ahead there in the standings to be first in the division."
With these victories, along with their 7-4 victory over the Storm on Dec. 20, 2024, the Wranglers are firmly in the lead of the Doug Birks Division with 39 points with the Storm and Quesnel River Rush sitting at 31 and 30 respectively. By contrast this time last season the Wranglers were fighting for fourth place in the division, a fight they ultimately lost.
The blowout against the Heat on Wednesday began when Jaden Rusznak scored his 16th goal of the season 1:04 into the first period (assisted by Landen Janz) in a short-handed goal after Brodie Gohmann was penalized for a delay of game penalty. At 2:47 into the first period, Wranglers player Brodie Gohmann scored his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Diego Cazac and Nelson Webster to make it 2-0 Wranglers.
A penalty by Chase Heat player Kieran Strauss that occurred in the first period for roughing and holding made its way to the second period, where Gohmann struck again, scoring his seventh of the year, assisted by Ethan Davey and Kole Duquette to make it 3-0 Wranglers. At 19:47 into the second period, Webster scored his eighth goal of the year, assisted by Brodie Gohmann and Landen Janz, to give a 4-0 lead.
In the third period, Diego Cazac of the Wranglers scored on a shorthanded goal after Wranglers player Tyler Smoluk was penalized for a tripping call, to make the game 5-0 - which turned out to be the final score, as Tyson Endall got the 22-save shutout against the Heat.
Stuart said that this game marked Endall's first career shutout at the Junior hockey level and he's happy the team played well together. He noted that the Wranglers' ability to kill penalties and take advantage of powerplays has improved since the beginning of the year, which contributed to their success. Throughout the New Year's Day game, both teams picked up penalties as tempers flared and gloves were thrown.
While he's happy with these wins, Stuart said from a coaching perspective he, associate coach Russel Sanderson and assistant coach Lee Hansen feel there are still areas the team can improve.
"I don't feel either three of those games were our best as a team. We expect more and we expect to turn it up from here. It's good to get the points still but we still need to crank it up," Stuart remarked.
After away games against the Merritt Centennials, Columbia Valley Rockies and Golden Rockets, the Wranglers will return to home ice on Jan. 24 to face off against the Grand Forks Bisons at the South Cariboo Rec Centre at 7:00 p.m. Stuart said the team looks forward to continuing the success they've had in the New Year with a primary goal of holding on to their position as head of the division going into playoffs.
"We're going to make playoffs for sure, it's just where we sit in the standings. We want to hold down that first spot and make sure we have home ice advantage and come out on top. We really want to win our division and set ourselves up going into playoffs," Stuart said.
With files from Misha Mustaqeem.
