Not many hockey players can say they ended their season with a victory.
Todd Bredo of Prince George is one of them.
He helped the 100 Mile House Wranglers clinch their first Keystone Cup Western Canadian junior B championship Sunday afternoon in Regina, a 3-2 overtime thriller over the AGI Insurance Quakers of Saskatoon.
Cole Zimmerman whacked in a loose puck for the winning goal, 2:25 into overtime, to trigger the celebration for the Wranglers.
"It was a bouncing puck in the slot and he got it just at the top of the circle and shot it top corner," said Bredo, an 18-year-old Wranglers defenceman. 'It was crazy. Western Canadian champions; it's pretty hard to beat that."
Zimmerman, a native of 100 Mile House, also scored the tying goal on a Wranglers' power play, 13:30 into the second period. Zimmerman assisted on Ryan Friesen's goal 16 seconds into the second, which made it a 2-1 game. Rhett Kehoe scored both Quakers goals in the first period.
Zane Steeves of Red Deer made 38 saves in the Wranglers nets. The Quakers outshot the Wranglers 40-32. The Quakers scored on just one of eight power-play opportunities, while the Wranglers were 1-for 7 with the man advantage.
"It was back and forth in the third period -- they had quite a few power plays in the third and we managed to kill them off," said Bredo, whose mother Venessa and grandmother Gladys were in attendance at the game Sunday in Regina.
"We were down 5-on-4 for the better part of eight minutes in the third. (Steeves) pulled through when we needed him most. We just had the heart to do it, where other teams don't. Our physicality runs a lot of teams out of the building. We hit a lot, we're a physical team."
Bredo started the season with the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League and was traded to the Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League but wasn't happy there and requested a trade. He joined the Wranglers in November. The six-foot-three, 200 pound Bredo collected three goals and 12 points in 33 regular season games in the KIJHL. In 29 playoff games he picked up a goal and seven assists.
Before he joined the Wranglers, Bredo played two seasons for the Prince George-based Cariboo Cougars. His 2014-15 season was highlighted by the Cougars' win at the prestigious Mac's Tournament in Calgary, and they went on to finish as league finalists. Four other former Cariboo Cougars, Kolten Carpenter, Alex Hanson, Brett Harris and Tyler Povelofskie, shared in the Cyclone Cup win.
The Wranglers lost their opener in the six-team round-robin tournament 3-0 to the Thunder Bay Northern Hawks, then reeled off three straight wins -- 8-5 over Extreme Hockey Regina Capitals, 4-2 over North Peace Navigators of Peace River, Alta., and 9-3 over Peguis Juniors of Fisher River, Man. The Wranglers wrapped up round-robin play Saturday with a 6-4 loss to the Quakers in a game which had no bearing on determining the two finalists.
The Wranglers joined the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League in 2013 after the Summerland Sting relocated there. They play home games at the South Cariboo Rec Centre and were one of the top-three teams in attendance this season in the KIJHL, regularly drawing crowds of 600-700.
They defeated the Kimberley Dynamiters for the KIJHL championship in a five-game series, then captured the Cyclone Taylor Cup provincial championship last weekend in Victoria with a 3-2 win over the Victoria Cougars in the final. They drove to Regina right from Victoria.
"During the season were battling back and forth with a couple clubs and near the end of the season we started to put it together," said Bredo.
Dale Hladun is head coach of the Wranglers and Chris Langton is the assistant coach.
