The Williams Lake Mustangs opened their Kootenay International Junior Hockey League seasons with a 5-2 win over the Sicamous Eagles and a 1-0 win over the Merritt Centennials.
Leslie Rowse/Mustangs photo
The Kootenay International Junior A Hockey League opening weekends in Quesnel and Williams Lake didn’t disappoint. Fans showed their support by giving their teams large crowds to play for: 1,800 combined for Quesnel and more than 1,300 for Williams Lake.
The River Rush lost their opening game 2-1 to the expansion Merritt Centennials. Sam Giangualano scored the first goal for the Centennials, while Josh Greenough has the first in River Rush history.
Greenough says getting that first goal “is a pretty big honour, but to come here as a North Okanagan alum and pot one, it’s pretty special.” He was impressed by the crowd saying they were “awesome”, adding the “fans were pretty (expletive) loud.”
“A few times when Fronny (Toren Fron) got ejected, just the booing coming from the stands, it was pretty pretty electric and we’re lucky to have this crowd,” he said.
Lhtako Dene Nation Chief Clifford Lebrun was more than impressed with the first night.
“It’s just incredible, I’m having such a blast here and so is everyone else as you can see, it’s just great to have hockey back,” he said. “Working with a club like the River Rush, it’s just incredible. A great bunch of people from top to bottom and I couldn’t be happier and we have a really good relationship with them.”
River Rush business manager/governor Hillary Shearing said it feels so incredible to have their hard work come to life after countless 12-hour days, seven days a week since March.
“There’s a lot of excitement in the community about the team,” she said. “We used to have senior men’s hockey and the Millionaires so everybody had a lot of hockey to go to on Friday and Saturday night, sometimes Tuesdays. Now after so many years, everybody’s been begging to have junior A hockey back. The town is just buzzing.”
Down in Williams Lake, the love is just as good for the Mustangs. Captain Jacob Schtaif has felt the fan love early.
“The entire town, I was going to fill up my car the other day and one of the guys, the cash clerk says, ‘Hey you play on the Mustangs right? Yeah. ‘Good luck tomorrow.’” Schtaif said. “That’s never an experience you’re going to get anywhere else. For me, it feels like home now.”
Quesnel native Dawson Ernst scored the first goal in this era of Mustangs history. He added a second goal, which proved to be the winner in their 5-2 victory over the Sicamous Eagles.
Mustangs head coach-GM Tyrel Lucas said their home-opener was “a night to remember.” Lucas believes they are getting fans following their win over Sicamous, which was followed up with a 1-0 win over the Merritt Centennials.
“You know, everyone comes to the game and I felt like they left as fans after watching,” he said. “After the game, the boys were saluting the fans. I had a moment where I was walking through the lobby and we had our win song on and it was just, we got junior hockey back in town, which was a pretty awesome feeling.”
