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The Parkland U-18 Rangers are charging into the second half of their season with momentum and confidence.

Closing out 2024 in spectacular fashion, the Rangers notched four consecutive victories, including a thrilling home-and-home sweep of the Pembina Valley Hawks and decisive wins against Yellowhead and Central Plains. These triumphs have propelled them to fifth place in the league standings with an impressive 32 points.

"We ran into a bit of a slump where it seemed that everything was going wrong for us," said Tom White, Head Coach. "I have to give a ton of credit to our players, they stuck with it and now we're pointed in the right direction."

First up for the Rangers to open 2025 is a test against the league-leading Brandon Wheat Kings. The defending league champion Wheat Kings are 23-4-0-2 this year and four points ahead of the Bruins. This will be Parkland's first meeting with Brandon this season and will be played at Credit Union Place on Friday at 7:30. 

Following that game, they head to Souris to play the Cougars on Sunday. The Cougars are in third place and hold a 10-point gap over the Rangers, who are tied with the Thrashers and Selects. 

A key leader for the team this year has been Quinten Fisk. The Dauphin star is tied for eighth in league scoring with 22 goals and 18 assists. Only two other players (Connor Hoemsen, 28, and Cole Dupuis, 23, have scored more) while Tyler Wamboldt also has 22. 

Fisk has five power-play goals to go along with one game-winning goal and is averaging 1.43 points per game. He also has 10 multi-point games including a four-assist performance during the team's win against Central Plains right before the Christmas break.

Fisk, who signed his Letter of Intent with the Kings earlier this season, is primed for a big second half.

"He is by far our hardest working player on the ice, he comes to the rink every day, whether it's a practice or game ready to compete," continued White. "He's a player that leads by example and makes everyone around him better."

Between the pipes, Piet Mierau's 1197 minutes played are the most in the league. With 11 wins to his credit, including six starts with at least 40 saves, Mierau won his final three starts of 2024 and can steal a game on any given night.

He has gotten in extra work this year as he practices daily with the Kings. In his final three starts of 2024, Piet made 126 saves.

"Piet is a fiery competitor, he's always competing and battling," said White. "He shows everyone how badly he wants to be successful and other guys feed off that."

Piet's goaltending partner is Kyle Pelletier. Kyle has won five games this year while playing 493 minutes. From McCreary, Kyle's best performance came on November 17 when he turned away 37 shots and got the win against the Kenora Thistles.

"He's a good young goalie that puts in the work," ended White. "He's only going to improve with time. He's a great kid and we're happy to have him on our roster."