There’s a new Heritage Junior Hockey League champion.
And for the first time since 2019, it’s not the Carstar Okotoks Bisons lifting the trophy as the Sylvan Lake Wranglers completed a four-game series victory with a 2-1 triumph Thursday night at the Murray Arena for the team’s first banner since 2010.
Aydden Shaw and Owen Callow scored in the second period for the Wranglers after Okotoks forward Owen McFarlane opened the scoring in the first four minutes.
Okotoks outshot the visitors by a 46-29 count with Sylvan Lake netminder Kaden Toussaint standing tall with a 45-save effort. The HJHL Goaltender of the Year was a major factor in the championship series, posting a .935 save percentage, three wins and a shutout.
Connor White, who split time in goal during the playoffs with Dylan Walker, made 27 saves for the Bisons in Game 4.
The Bisons staved off elimination Tuesday night in Game 3 by a 6-5 score after the Wranglers corralled consecutive victories to start the series by 5-0 and 4-2 scores.
Okotoks won the past three championships, including the 2024 and 2023 titles at the expense of Sylvan Lake in the final, with the 2021 and 2020 playoffs not finished amid the pandemic.
The Airdrie Thunder’s 2019 title is the last time the league banner went to a North Division squad.
Bisons sniper Sam Callahan finished as the playoff’s leading goal scorer with 10 tallies while Shaw led all players with 19 postseason points.
Sylvan Lake advances to the Hockey Alberta Junior B Provincial Championships in Morinville. There will be a new winner crowned at that event as well as Okotoks is the defending champion.
The playoff finish marked the end of the Bisons careers for its four graduating overage players — captain Jake Snashall, alternate captains Adam Kirkpatrick and Caden Scott and blueliner Kegan Law.
Snashall, Kirkpatrick and Law won championships in their first three seasons with the team with Scott doubling down on titles in his two previous seasons with the herd.
All four players contributed to Okotoks’ breakthrough provincial gold medal from 2024, the second in franchise history.
The Bisons still lead the HJHL with 14 championships. The Wranglers are now six-time champions, with this title the franchise’s first since relocating to Sylvan Lake.
For more information on the Bisons, go to okotoksbisons.com.
