Storm Remain Unbeaten Against Wranglers-Win In 100 Mile House
100 MILE HOUSE, BC—The Kamloops Storm scored three goals in the first period and skated to a 5-2 win over the 100 Mile House Wranglers in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League play on Saturday (Feb 10).
The victory was the Storm’s fifth of the season against the Wranglers. Kamloops improved to 30-11-0-1 for 61 points and a share of second place in the Birks Division with the idle Sicamous Eagles. Both teams have played 42 games: and have two games remaining in the regular season.
In this contest, Kamloops had 23 shots in that first period and 50 on the night. The Storm went 2-3 on the power play while the Wranglers were 1-3.
Dawson Holitzki (Kelowna, BC) handled 27 shots in goal for Kamloops. The rookie Holitzki improved to 12-1 on the season and won his last 11 starts. Ivan Tolsma (Leduc, AB) was in the nets for 100 Mile and faced 27 pucks.
Offensively: the Storm got goals from five different players: Evan Clark (Kamloops, BC), Ty Horner (Kamloops BC) and Brendan Green (Clearwater, BC) in the first period. Ryan Larsen (Kamloops, BC) and Lochlan Stefanishyn (Pinwa, MB) had markers in the third stanza. Horner and Stefanishyn both had power play goals. They also had goals in Kamloops’ 5-3 defeat Friday (Feb 9) in Revelstoke.
Larsen’s goal was shorthanded. Larsen has 17 points in his last 11 games. Clark has 14 points in his last 11 outings.
Wrangler goals came off the sticks of Ethan Hofstrand (Fort St. John, BC) and Kelton Schinde (Terrace, BC). Hofstrand’s goal came on the power play. Shinde was shorthanded when he scored in the second.
The loss drops 100 Mile’s record to 10-27-2-3. They are tied with Chase for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Birks Division. Both teams have two games to play. The Heat were doubled up 4-2 by the Grizzlies in Revelstoke on Saturday (Feb 10). That win clinched the divisional regular season title for Revvie.
The Storm will finish the regular campaign off next weekend. They host Summerland on Friday night (Feb 16) at Mac Isle and then finish things off back in 100 Mile on Saturday (Feb 17). Both games have 7 PM PST puck drops. If you can’t see it live, you can watch it on a pay-per-view basis on FloHockey TV.