This past weekend found the 100 Mile House Wranglers visiting Chase to take on the Heat in first round playoff action. The results of the first two games at the Art Holding Memorial Arena were not what the local shinny fans wanted. Friday night saw Chase take a two-goal lead in the second minute of the opening period. Chase goals by Seamus Collins from Brayden Haskell and Pat Brady, followed 14 seconds later from Zachary Fournier assisted by Kolten Moore. The visiting Cariboo boys stepped on the accelerator and tied the game up. The Heat had a one goal lead after 40 minutes of mayhem. The Wranglers scored three quick goals and rode out of town with a 5-3 win to erase the home ice advantage.
Saturday night found the same two teams in the same arena playing each other. Chase once again got things started with Nikiforuk doing the good deed helped by Brady and Fournier. Then in the second the Wranglers tied the dance up. In the third the Cariboo crew silenced the locals with a goal. Then the Heat scored a pair, Collins for the second night in a row assisted by Brady Marzocco and Brady, then Nikiforuk on the man advantage for his second of the event
With 50 seconds left, the Wranglers lassoed a tie. Two minutes in to OT, the visitors sent fans home with an empty feeling, a 4-3 OT win, seeing the Wranglers going up 2-0 in a best of 7 series.
Game 3 was Monday the 26th, at the South Cariboo Rec Centre in 100 Mile House, home of the Wranglers. This end to end madcap saw zero scoring in the first with both goaltenders performing heroic saves. In the second, 100 Mile got the only goal. In the third the complexion of the game turned ugly as the Officials called a lot of minors but were unable to blow the whistle on several serious infractions warranting majors and suspensions. The Cariboo crew popped in a pair prior to Evan Hughes pumping in a counter. 100 Mile added to their total making it 4-1. Nikiforuk scored a comeback tally on the power play from Brady and Michael Fidanza, but that was all on this night. With less than a minute to play an empty net goal secured the Wranglers a 3-0 strangle hold on the best of seven series.
In the fourth game of the series on Feb. 27 the Heat were fighting for their playoff lives on the road. The game started with a flurry of three Wranglers goals in the opening period. Frustrations had boiled over by the end of the first. In the final minute of the period of the period Chase’s Ryan Okino was given a game misconduct for cross checking. The resulting scuffle saw a minor dealt to each team. The Wranglers scored two more in the opening two-minutes of the second period. Chase got themselves on the scoreboard with a power-play marker from Kaden Black and followed up with another from Evan Hughes. The Wranglers denied the heat any momentum going into the final period with a sixth goal as the buzzer sounded to end the second period. Kolten Moore added another goal for Chase two minutes into the final period but it was too little too late as the Wranglers held them scoreless after that, making the final score 6-3. The fourth game concluded a Wranglers’ sweep of the series and knocked the Heat out of the playoffs.
-With files from Jim Elliot