“It’s been a special 40 days,” 100 Mile House Wranglers Junior B Hockey Club president Tom Bachynski explained the day after the team captured the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) title on March 31.
“I guess it’s been [special for] the whole season really, but the playoffs have been just unbelievable. “We’ve been talking about, ‘How do you feel’? I’m happy but I’m not euphoric; I’m satisfied and relieved.
“It’s all of those things; it kind of leaves you in a little bit of a fog today.”
The initial vision was to bring a Junior B hockey team to the community, Bachynski said, adding that is why the community built the new arena.
“I guess when I took over and realized that it was going to take off, it was more than just getting a team.
“It was creating an identity and a culture in a community that didn’t have a hockey culture community per se. There was one, but it wasn’t vibrant.”
During the 24 hours after the final whistle blew and the Wranglers knocked off the reigning KIJHL champion Kimberley Dynamiters 2-1 to win the trophy, Bachynski said he has taken a stroll down memory lane.
He remembers having to leave the Christmas Tree celebration at Central GM three years ago to take a phone call and learning 100 Mile had a Junior B hockey team.
“You just take those moments and you relive them over and over, and remember how each step was so magical and so breathtaking that you didn’t think you would be able to put down in words what it was like. As you move forward, there was another challenge that you can find.
“Then we got a team, put in on the ice and it’s OK and wonderful, and the community starts to grasp it.”
Bachynski said getting new coach and general manager Dale Hladun made a huge difference for the organization.
“[He came] with a completely different philosophy, a great attitude towards kids and his vision of where kids should be as they come and go through our system.
“Then to get to this year, it was magical in how we managed to bring a good bunch of kids to the team.”
He noted a lot of championship teams either buy, trade and sell just to get the right players.
“Dale found the right players in the first place and added a couple of late ones to augment the team. He made it very clear it was going to be a deep playoff run and that he was going to need those players. Lo and behold, they show up and away we go.”
It all culminated last night, Bachynski said, adding he thought winning the KIJHL title was still five years away.
“To witness it and to be that close to the boys to see the joy they had hoisting that trophy last night was payment. I look at what we do for those boys, they’ll never forget what happened last night and nobody can ever take that away from them.
“Then when I turned around and looked at the 750 fans who are still there and what we’ve done to them and for them is an incredible adventure.”
Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, who attended several games during the playoffs, said 100 Mile House is so fortunate to have community citizens, such as Tom Bachynski, who had a vision and took a chance and put together the Wranglers organization.
“I could not be prouder to know the volunteers, the staff and watch the games whenever I could.
“To see the excitement of the fans and the home-town crowd filling the arena to cheer on the young men who have come to our community and participated in community events, makes us all proud of them.
“I’m thankful for the economics generated in 100 Mile House from this great venture; again thank you Tom.”
Wranglers club vice-president Greg Aiken said winning the club title is “fantastic.”
“I think we all had personal goals for our team this year. Obviously, we wanted to win the league championship, but I would have been really happy if we got out of our division in the playoffs this year.
“As the season went on, we realized maybe we have a better team than we think, but you never really know until the playoffs start because teams are all different when the playoffs begin.”
Aiken said he thought they had a pretty good playoff team because Dale could roll four lines.
“Other teams are rolling two lines and they get too tired. Our physical play takes a toll on these other teams.
“I like Dale’s style of team because that’s the style of game I played when I was in Quesnel and that’s the kind of team we have.”
Aiken said the Wranglers are very physical with a lot of grit and some skill with speed.
“We don’t have anyone guy who fills the net; we have three lines that can score. If teams key on one of our lines, our other lines step up.”
He added they had good defencemen and great goal keeping in Zane Steeves.
Noting the northern reaches of the province produce tougher hockey players, Aiken said this bodes well for the Wranglers because this is where they draw players from.
