After a week that involved a pair of waiver placements, 24 hours of waiting for the unknown, and then a pair of roster moves, the Calgary Wranglers hit the ice at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday night.

Their lineup featured a pair of familiar faces to Calgary Flames fans: forward Connor Zary and defenceman Brayden Pachal, who both navigated the waiver wire on Monday and re-assignments to the AHL on Tuesday before playing on Friday.

Both players made their first AHL appearances since 2023 – Pachal’s last was at the tail end of the 2022-23 back with the Henderson Silver Knights, Zary’s at the very beginning of the 2023-24 season with the Wranglers – and they were both placed in prominent positions in front of a crowd of just over 2,200 fans (and more than the usual number of NHL scouts).

The Wranglers won by a 2-1 score over the Bakersfield Condors.

Zary skated on the Wranglers’ de facto first line, playing centre between Dryden Hunt and William Stromgren, and winning about half of his face-offs. He also played on the first power play unit, along with Hunt, Rory Kerins, Alex Nylander and Mike Benning. The power play went 1-for-3, with the other unit scoring.

10:34 into the second period, Zary scored on a pass from below the red line from Dryden Hunt. It was Zary’s first goal since Apr. 12 (with the Flames), and his first AHL goal since Oct 28, 2023.

“It felt awesome,” said Zary. “I think to score, to win, to be playing in a tight game at the end where things matter and every little play matters was exciting, and that’s what you live for, right? Like, I’m here to play hockey. I’m here to have fun. And when you can enjoy moments like that and the boys are up on the bench because someone blocked a shot in a 2-1 game, that’s the best part about it. So I think that was a lot of fun for me. And I think just mentally kind of overcoming a couple of hurdles over the last week has been a lot. But to get out there and play hockey and win a game was a lot of fun.”

All-in all, Zary had a solid game. At worst, he faded into the background a bit. At best, he generated four shots on goal and scored once. The game was against a Bakersfield Condors team that often turns things into a slog with their checking style, but Zary didn’t over-handle the puck or try anything too fancy; he played a simple game within the Wranglers’ structure, and it was fairly effective.

Pachal spent the evening on the third pairing alongside Axel Hurtig – it was a fun coincidence that the pairing featured two physical defenders who both captained Western League teams during their junior careers. They also worked as a pairing on the Wranglers’ penalty kill, which went 3-for-3. Aside from an errant clearing pass up the middle that was intercepted by the Condors – but didn’t result in a scoring chance due to a puck-handling miscue – Pachal played a quiet, effective game.

Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter shared his assessment of Pachal’s AHL return following the game.

“I thought Patches played a really hard game,” said Sutter. “I thought he was physical when he needed to. I thought he was simple with the puck. He made hard plays. I was really happy with him.”

The Wranglers return to action on Sunday for a rematch with the Condors.

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