OHL Kitchener Rangers

Rangers Outlast Storm for First Win of 2016

Published on January 1, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Kitchener Rangers News Release


The Kitchener Rangers and Guelph Storm came into Friday night's action separated by 43 points in the standings, but you wouldn't have known it by the way their game played out.

The Rangers (26-5-4-0) scored twice in the third period to rally for a 3-2 victory over the Storm (4-28-3-0) in front of 7,221 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex.

The Rangers opened the game's scoring early in the first period, but a flukey goal tied things up shortly thereafter for the Storm. The lowly visitors then utilized an impressive second period to not only outshoot the Rangers, but to take a one goal lead.

Kitchener would tie the game 2-2 early in the third, and eventually got the game winning goal from Adam Mascherin, who for the second night in a row tallied a three point effort and earned the game's first star. With 19 goals and 26 assists, he now overtakes the team lead in points with 45.

The loss snaps a streak of four straight games earning at least a point for the Storm, while the Rangers picked up their third straight victory since the holiday break.

Rangers starter Dawson Carty made 28 saves to remain unblemished in regulation this season with a 7-0-1-0 record. Justin Nichols (3-16-1-0) took the loss for the Storm, allowing three goals on 34 shots.

Rangers head coach Mike Van Ryn said post-game on 570 News that it's obvious this Guelph Storm team is much improved compared to the first four times his team has played them this season, but he also didn't feel he saw his club's best effort at times tonight.

"[Guelph] are working hard. They're trying to create havoc and force teams into making mistakes and they've done a real good job of it lately," said Van Ryn.

"Not to take anything away from them, but we didn't play our game tonight. I tell our guys we need to have a killer mentality and I didn't see it tonight. I wasn't too happy with the way we played.

"I shuffled up the lines a little bit [in the third period] to try to get a response from some guys, but on the other hand, I was very happy with the effort from fourth line again tonight."

Defenceman Miles Liberati says the team got a bit of a rude awakening from the Storm that they weren't exactly expecting.

"You have to give them some credit. They've obviously responded well since playing under a new coach," Liberati said. "But we may have taken them a little lightly and we can't do that again on Sunday."

For the second straight night Jeremy Bracco opened the game's scoring, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the opening period, with Mascherin picking up the lone assist.

Just over five minutes later the Storm would tie the game on a hard-luck bounce for the Rangers, as Carty attempted to play the puck behind his net but lost possession. Matt Hotchkiss would pounce on the loose puck and find the back of the empty net before Carty was able to get back into position. Liam Stevens and Garrett McFadden earned the assists on the goal, which came at 9:34.

The first period would end in a 1-1 stalemate, with shots 12-6 in favour of the Rangers.

Following checking to the head and cross-checking penalties to the Rangers just eleven seconds apart, the Storm were awarded a 5-on-3 man advantage with just over two minutes to play in the second period. Hotchkiss tallied his second of the game at 18:23, with McFadden and CJ Garcia picking up the assists.

The Storm would take the 2-1 lead into the second intermission, outshooting the Rangers 16-9 in the middle frame, and 22-21 overall, through 40 minutes.

David Miller tied the game 2-2 with a brilliant second effort in the slot to beat Nichols at 5:43 from Liberati and Mascherin. Just under three minutes later Mascherin would pick up his third point of the night with a power play goal at 8:23, assisted by Liberati and Kohn to put the Rangers up 3-2. The Storm pressed for the equalizer late in the period by pulling Nichols, but to no avail. Shots were 13-8 Kitchener in the third period for a game total of 34-30 in favour of the Blueshirts.

Each team had a goal on the power play, with the Storm going 1-for-5 and the Rangers going 1-for-3.

It was the 100th career regular season OHL game for Rangers centre Gustaf Franzen.

Liberati (3), Hotchkiss (2) and Mascherin (1) were chosen as the Three Stars of the Game.

Brandon Robinson, Brian Brosnan, and Frank Hora each wore 'A's and skated as alternate captains for the game.

The Rangers close out the weekend with another meeting with the Storm, this time at the Sleeman Centre on Sunday, January 3rd at 2pm. They return to the Aud next Friday, January 8th when they host the Hamilton Bulldogs for the one and only time this season.

Tickets for Friday, and other future Rangers home games, are available online at kitchenerrangers.com, by calling Centre in the Square, or through The Aud Box Office.

Check out the Kitchener Rangers Statistics

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Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 1, 2016


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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