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Majors Sneak by Rangers 3-2

December 2, 2011 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


No matter what the circumstances, it's never easy to win a game in Kitchener, so the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors were a pretty pleased team on Friday night.

Riley Brace had a goal and an assist and JP Anderson made 23 saves as the Majors edged the Kitchener Rangers 3-2 in Ontario Hockey League play at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, giving Mississauga a huge road win.

The Rangers were without several regulars due to injury, but none the less surrendered to a Majors team who played a very disciplined road game to get a badly needed two points.

"I thought our composure was good tonight and overall we played a very solid road game," Mississauga General Manager/Coach James Boyd said. "We didn't panic even when they scored in the third period to get behind by just a goal and that's a good sign.

"We were very disciplined and were much better defensively than we've been in quite awhile. It was a big victory on the road in a building that's always tough to play in and hopefully that gets us going in the right direction."

Brett Foy and Mika Partanen scored the other goals for the Majors (13-11-1-3), while Michael Catenacci and Zach Lorentz replied for Kitchener (18-8-1-0).

Catenacci opened the scoring at 6:44 of the first period from Ben Thompson and Jesse Young to give the home side a 1-0 lead. The Majors responded just 2:14 later as Foy scored his fifth of the year from Brace and David Corrente to notch the game at 1-1 at 8:58. The Majors pressed and took a 2-1 lead 2:17 later with an unassisted marker by Partanen, his fourth of the season, at 10:15. Brace picked up his 18th of the season - a career high - on the power play at 15:57 from Stuart Percy and Derek Schoenmakers to give the Majors a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Mississauga outshot Kitchener 12-9 in the opening frame.

After a scoreless second period, Lorentz brought the Rangers to within one at 10:57 from Eric Ming and Cody Sol, but that was as close as the Rangers would come to mounting a comeback as the visiting Majors held on to improve their road record to 9-5-0-2. It was a much needed road win as the Majors dropped five of their last six games away from home prior to Friday night.

The Majors outshot the Rangers 16-7 in the middle frame, but were outshot 9-7 during the last 20 minutes. Total shots were 35-25 in favour of Mississauga.

JP Anderson earned the win in goal, making 23 saves for his eleventh win of the season. Just as Anderson was no stranger to the Majors crease last regular season - playing 51 games - the story hasn't changed much to start the 2011-12 campaign. Anderson started his 23rd game this season on Friday night, having already played four more games than this point last season. The mark ties him for fourth in games played in the Ontario Hockey League among goaltenders.

John Gibson made 32 saves in a losing effort for the Rangers, who saw their home record dip to a still envious 12-4-0-0. The Majors win snapped a nine game win streak for the Rangers on home ice.

The Majors return to the ice on Sunday when they host the Ottawa 67's at the Hershey Centre at 2 p.m. Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.ca or by visiting the Hershey Centre box office prior to the game.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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