The Amarillo Wranglers were able to end their 2024-2025 campaign on a high note by earning a pair of wins over Oklahoma City and beating Colorado in the season finale.
The Wranglers closed the regular season strong beating OKC 5-1 on Friday followed by a 4-1 victory Saturday. Amarillo then capped off the year with a 5-4 overtime win against Colorado.
For the second time in franchise history, the Amarillo Wranglers failed to make the North American Hockey League playoffs by four points finishing the year at 24-29-2-4 (49 points).
Friday’s game
Amarillo stampeded onto the ice this Friday evening in front of a large crowd after recently being eliminated from the playoffs with a lot to prove. With pride and purpose on the line, Amarillo scored the first goal on the power-play at the 4:40 mark of the first period when Cole Saterdalen found the back of the net, giving Amarillo the 1–0 lead over the Oklahoma Warriors going into the first intermission.
The second period saw a scoring bonanza as Amarillo scored three answered goals. Marc La France, Kirill Evstigneev and the ever-popular Jacob Miller scored to put this game out of reach.
Saturday’s game
Amarillo put on a scoring clinic in the first period when newly acquired forward Trevor O’Donohue scored his first of two goals for the night, giving Amarillo the early lead. O’Donohue has scored four goals in the eight games he’s played thus far for the Wranglers. O’Donohue will also represent a strong group of returners for Amarillo.
The Wranglers went onto to score two more unanswered goals in the first period when the captain Morley Phillips and Ty Izadi scored, giving Amarillo a 3-0 lead at the end of the first frame. Both goalies played a strong second period by stopping all 18 shots as this period resulted in no scoring. Oklahoma tried to make it interesting by getting a lucky bounce goal, eliminating the shut-out opportunity for Amarillo goalie Charles Antoine Girard. Wranglers Cole Saterdalen and O’Donohue scored in this period as Amarillo skated to a 5-1 victory.
Girard was almost perfect in the net, stopping 18-of-19 shots, giving him his sixth victory of the year and winning four out of his last five games of the season.
Sunday’s game
With both teams playing for pride, Amarillo took control of the Colorado Grit scoring three goals in the first period as Jacob Miller started the scoring for the Wranglers within the first minute of the game. Look for Miller to take on a Leadership role next season for the Wranglers. Heikki Peipinen then scored his first goal of the season. Wranglers Daniel Rassega also scored in the first period as Amarillo was able to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.
The second period saw no scoring as both goalies stopped all 18 shots. The third period saw a defensive heavy game when, at the 7:45 mark, Colorado was able to tie this game up. With just two minutes and 50 seconds left in the game, hot stick handler Cole Saterdalen captured a beautiful pass from line-mate Ty Izadi, giving Amarillo a brief lead.
With just two minutes left, Amarillo was called for holding as the Grit scored on the power play with just six seconds left in the game, putting this exciting game into overtime. Amarillo hot stick handler Saterdalen put a quick ending to the game, just 19 seconds into the overtime period scored his second goal of the game and third goal of the weekend. Amarillo came away with the 5–4 thrilling overtime victory this Sunday evening in the season finale.
Amarillo goalie Matt Schoephoerster played his last game as a Wrangler stopping 28-of-32 shots, giving him his 12th victory of the season.
Looking toward next year
Hopefully the head coaching volatility has come to an end. This volatility had a trickledown effect with players that created unforeseen personnel changes. Head coach Corey Wogtech finished the season strongly as his systems and protocols started jelling with his players in the last few weeks of the season. This momentum has built a foundation for next season. Amarillo will see its disproportionate share of returners as well as some exciting tenders. For the first time in Amarillo league hockey history, two local players have been tendered. We will be following their progress as all players report to camp at the end of August.
Editor’s note
I would like to thank the Amarillo Wranglers for their continued support and unbridled access to their players. I want to thank Press Pass Sports founder Kale Steed for giving me this weekly opportunity to indulge my passion for junior league hockey. Thank you to one of the best athletic photographers, Lauren Corea, owner and founder of Lo Co Photography, for allowing use her impeccable photographs. Most of all, I would like to thank the readers of this column for their support and their passion for hockey in our community. So, until next season, Godspeed.