The newly formed Kitchener ‘AA’ Bantam Jr. Rangers travelled
to Pittsburgh this past weekend in an effort to win the Three Rivers Cup.
The first round robin game was a hard fought battle with the ‘AA’ Reston Raiders. The Rangers battled through a tight checking team as well as a case of ‘travel legs’. As the legs got loose the pucks started to find the net. The Rangers played a solid 2nd and 3rd period to win by a score of 3 – 1.
In the second game against the South Hill ‘AA’ Panthers the Rangers showed even more heart battling through a tight checking, penalty filled affair. The turning point of the game was a huge penalty kill in the second period. The Rangers were down 2 men for 4:00 and with great effort and goaltending the Rangers were able to keep the puck out of the net. The Rangers tightened up on defense and were able to win 1 – 0 in a very entertaining low scoring affair. #1 Jared Lubczuk picked up the SO in a solid effort between the pipes.
The third and final round robin game came against a much bigger Minor Midget Amherst Knights team. Once again it was a quick, physical game, with many scoring chances going both ways. In the second period Amherst found themselves on a 2 on 0 breakaway, #31 Brennan Hadad made what most considered the save of the tournament sliding across to stop a back door pass keeping the game deadlocked at 0-0. The Rangers fed off that energy and scored late in the 3rd period to win the very entertaining game 1 – 0 with #31 Brennan Hadad picking up the SO. The Rangers finished the round robin with a record 3-0-0, advancing to the finals.
The Championship game found the Rangers hosting a familiar foe in the South Hill ‘AA’ Panthers. From the drop of the puck the Rangers looked like a team with one goal in mind. In another tight checking game the Rangers started finding the net. Leading the way with a hat-trick was #88 Joel Penticost. As the game picked up physically the Rangers looked to protect the lead and the shutout. With great defense and great goaltending #1 Jared Lubczuk was able to secure his 2nd SO in as many games and the 3rd SO for the Rangers in the tournament.
The Rangers finished the tournament with a 4-0-0 record scoring 9 goals and allowing only 1. Many players made a strong case for tournament MVP but players and coaches agreed the co-MVP’s would be awarded to both goaltenders: #1 Jared Lubczuk and #31 Brennan Hadad.
The tournament was a great success on and off ice and the Rangers would like to thank all of our sponsors for allowing us to have team building activities and to help the team solidify our identity as the Kitchener ‘AA’ Bantam Jr. Rangers. The Rangers would also like to thank all of our parents and support staff for allowing the tournament and activities to run so smoothly.
The Rangers will be back into the regular season this week with 3 games over the next 5 games.
GO RANGERS GO
