“It was awesome”: Big crowd sees Calgary Wranglers get huge playoff win

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With there being no Calgary Flames playoff hockey this year, many fans poured into the Saddledome to watch the Calgary Wranglers tonight.

After sweeping the Tucson Roadrunners on the road in a best-of-three series last weekend, the Wranglers had their first home playoff game tonight against the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Wranglers were able to pull out a 4-1 victory to give themselves a 1-0 series lead and a perfect 3-0 record to begin their postseason run. Several individuals stepped up with great performances, but a big part of what led them to the win was the support they had from the 6,067 fans in attendance.

“It was awesome. I thought it was great,” head coach Trent Cull said about the crowd. “For me, it’s always an indicator when the anthems being sung and they do the ‘SEE’, I was going, ‘Oh, that’s a pretty good crowd tonight.’ It was great. I thought they were into it, I thought they were passionate. It certainly helped us, for sure.”

During the regular season, crowds like tonight’s are a rarity for the Wranglers, who share a home building with both the Flames and Calgary Hitmen. Even Dustin Wolf, who played a career-high 17 games with the Flames this season, was impressed with what he saw.

“It was awesome out there,” Wolf said. “Probably one of the biggest crowds we’ve had here all year. To hear them chanting non stop was pretty cool. I think we’re going to need that moving forward.”

Wolf was absolutely fantastic in the Wranglers’ first-round series versus the Roadrunners, including a 46-save shutout in Game 1. While he wasn’t able to pick up his second playoff shutout in this one, he kicked aside 35 of the 36 shots he faced, several of which were extremely high quality chances.

“He makes a couple big saves near the end there, right? That certainly gives you that added confidence,” Cull said of his goaltender. “I think he’s had a good season, but for me, how he’s raised his game in the playoffs has been awesome. It’s really nice to see, and I think it’s great for our group.”

Another Flames prospect who came to play in this one was Adam Klapka. The 6-foot-9 winger had a huge breakout season with the Wranglers, which allowed him the opportunity to suit up for the first six games of his NHL career. With the game scoreless early in the second, he was able to get his team on the board with a highlight reel goal.

“I [haven’t] seen it yet, but ya, I’m happy I scored,” Klapka said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever scored a goal like this, so I’m really happy. I just want to help the team to win the game, and it worked, so I’m happy.”

The Wranglers will be back in action this Sunday at the Saddledome, as they look to take a strange hold 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Puck drop in that one is set for 4:00 pm MT.

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