It had to end at some point, and it did at a record-achieving home game.
In Series 2, Doug Birks Division Championship Game 6, the Heat ran out of healthy players and dropped a 2-1 series-ending game to the 100 Mile House Wranglers.
After beating the Kamloops Storm in five games in Series 1, the Chase squad left it all on the ice in a losing effort in six games to the Wranglers.
Kaden Black opened scoring in the 1st, assisted by Zach Fournier and Trevor Okino.
In Game 5 of the series in the South Cariboo, the Heat earned a 4-0 shutout victory backstopped by Nic Bruyere. Pat Brady got a power-play marker in the 1st from Rylan Van Unen and Josh Bourne.
In the 2nd, Michael Fidanza scored on the power play from Okino, then Spencer Farstad tallied from Grady Musgrave and Fournier. In the 3rd, Van Unen scored from Okino.
Four-hundred-and-ninety-people were in attendance for the final game of the series, setting a new high water mark for fans in the stands.
As the playoffs advanced, more and more of the curious came through the doors of the Art Holding Memorial Arena to check out what all the fuss was about. The hope is those same fans will come out next season to have some fun and excitement while catching KIJHL hockey action.
Cross Checks and Slashes: While the Heat were fit, no level of protection and fitness can insure no injuries occur. In less then 24 hours during Games 5 and 6, the local pucksters lost four teammates to the slashing and whacking of the foe.
Travis “BoBo” Beaubien, #17, was honoured as the Playoff MVP. Beaubien remained in the lineup throughout the playoffs, scoring game-winners while pounding the opposition with solid but clean contact. It is expected he will return for his final season of junior hockey eligibility.
With hockey out of the way, the players moved the Chase Heat office from uptown to the plaza, squeezed between Chase Dental and Subway. They then moved the Chase Quilters to their new digs at Parkside – all in a day’s worth of community involvement.
Veterans Trevor Okino, Alexander Durbeniuk, Braden Hughes and Tommy Brown have completed their junior hockey eligibility and are leaving Chase for the next steps in their about-to-be-successful lives.
The entire Heat organization wishes each of them much success and happiness.