100 Mile House Wranglers lose to Chase Heat

The 100 Mile House Wranglers were outplayed by the Chase Heat Wednesday, Jan. 24 at the South Cariboo Rec Centre.

The Heat beat the Wranglers by 7-4 on home ice in a contentious game. With their victory they have drawn within two points of the Wranglers in the standings, threatening 100 Mile’s playoff seat.

The game started out promisingly for the Wranglers with close to 300 fans in attendance to cheer them on. Defencemen Ethan Hofstrand scored an early goal, however penalties led to Chase scoring two powerplay goals by the end of the first period and taking the lead.

During the second period, Nash Hillworth was able to tie the game during a powerplay, however, the home team seemed unable to keep out of the penalty box giving the Heat several powerplay opportunities. By the end of the period, neither team had a decisive advantage.

Shortly after the third period began the Heat scored again but the Wranglers’ Kaden Ernst was able to answer moments later, much to the crowd’s approval. However, after another Wrangler penalty, Chase found a chink in the Wrangler’s defence and scored three goals within a minute of play. Wrangler’s coach Lee Hansen was forced to call a timeout to refocus his team and stem the bleeding.

With most of the third period left to go the Wranglers did their best to dig themselves out of the hole they found themselves in. While Nolan Wytrykusk succeeded in scoring a powerplay goal, a combination of further penalties and the Heat’s defence ensured the Wranglers were unable to tie the game. The Heat scored one final goal late in the third period, sealing the Wrangler’s fate.

The Wranglers return to home ice on Friday, Feb. 2 to face off against the Osoyoos Coyotes. Their last regular season game is on Saturday, Feb. 17 against the Kamloops Storm.