New-Look Rangers Post 8-1 Victory in Kitchener Friday
February 10, 2023 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release
Kitchener, Ont. - The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead seven minutes into the game and eventually posted a commanding 8-1 victory over the defending OHL Champion Hamilton Bulldogs in front of 6,613 fans at The Aud Friday night. The newly constructed third line of Mešár-Rehkopf-Sop combined for 12 points with Sop and Rehkopf both recording hat-tricks. Marco Costantini was solid against his former team stopping 27 shots. The Rangers outshot the Bulldogs 37-28.
The Rangers got to work early. First, at 3:40, a broken-up play saw the puck deflect out into the high slot for Hunter Brzustewicz to fire the puck through a crowd to give Kitchener the early lead. Two minutes after that, Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) drove hard behind the net and fed a pass into the slot for Matthew Sop to one-time the puck passed the left leg of Hamilton netminder Matteo Drobac.
To finish off a strong opening period, Carson Rehkopf ripped a shot from the left face-off dot, short side, over the shoulder of the Hamilton goaltender five seconds into the Rangers' first power-play of the game. Through the first 20 minutes of play, Kitchener held a 3-0 lead and outshot the Bulldogs 16-6.
The Rangers saw their three goal first period and raised it one as the Rangers pilled on four more goals in the middle frame. Matthew Sop scored his second of the game 2:26 into the period. Then, at 5:34 Filip Mešár recorded his third point of the night as he potted home the rebound off a Carson Rehkopf shot. Rehkopf also added his second of the game sliding the puck through the five-hole of Drobac on a partial breakaway. That goal made it 6-0 Kitchener and ended the night for the Hamilton netminder.
Then, with 1:17 left to play in the period, Sop netted his second of the period and third of the game to complete the natural hat-trick. Sop was sprung on a 2-on-0 break with Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars) and he made no mistake directing the cross-crease pass over the body of the Hamilton goaltender.
As the teams headed to the locker room for the second intermission, Kitchener led 7-0 and shots favoured the Blueshirts 26-14.
Five minutes into the third period, Hamilton got themselves back on the board for the only time as Florian Xhekaj banked a centering pass off the leg of a Kitchener Ranger in front of the goal that deflected through the legs of Marco Costantini. However, at 11:51 Rehkopf became the second Ranger to record a hat-trick in the game with a slot-shot that beat the Hamilton goaltender blocker side.
The final score in the game was 8-1 for the East Avenue Blue and shots were 37-28 for the Rangers. Kitchener finished the game 1-for-2 on the power-play and 5-for-6 on the penalty-kill. The third star of the game was awarded to Matthew Andonovski with three assists, the second star was awarded to Carson Rehkopf with three goals and an assist, and the first star was awarded to Matthew Sop with three goals and two assists.
Next Up: The Rangers finish up the week with a Saturday night visit to Barrie at the Sadlon Arena. This is the final matchup between these two clubs this season. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. The game will be televised live throughout Kitchener on Rogers TV, cable 20, and will be broadcast on the radio on CityNews 570 AM CKGL.
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