Minor Midget AAA Jr. Rangers in Waterloo Gold Puck Tournament
The KJR
Minor Midget AAA team showed very well in the Waterloo Gold Puck tournament
this past weekend.
The Jr.
Rangers won their division going 3-0-1 in round robin play.
The Minor Midget AAA Jr. Rangers played 2 games Friday and 2 games Saturday.
The Jr. Rangers faced Sudbury Jr. Wolves in their first game and despite outplaying and outshooting their opponents from the north 55-17 the Jr. Rangers couldn’t find the back of the net until Tyler Dam’s power play blast from the point beat Sudbury’s goalie. The Jr. Rangers settled for a 1-1 tie.
Their 2nd game on Friday the Jr. Rangers were missing 3 players from their line up but their work ethic on the Olympic ice at RIM pushed them to a 1-0 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Jr. Greyhounds. Owen Lane scored from the Jr. Rangers with a quick release from a set up pass by Benton Hayes. Daniel Chenard picked up the shutout.
Game 3 played Saturday morning the boys in blue faced the undefeated Southern Tier Admirals and played a sound team game winning 3-1. Nic Munroe and Andrew McIntyre’s speed and relentless puck pressure set up Owen Lane for Kitchener’s first goal. Ryan Kieswetter, who won battles all game and Tyler Dam set up Sam Shaw’s power play goal for the boys in blue to allow them to head into the 2nd period up 2-1. Nic Munroe showed his speed and work ethic to score 11 seconds into the 2nd period to put the Jr. Rangers up 3-1. The Rangers then shut the Admirals down the rest of the way while receiving solid goaltending from Jonathan Heise.
This set the Jr. Rangers up with a rematch against Central Ontario Wolves. Central Ontario beat Kitchener 3-2 in a tournament earlier in the year. The Rangers had a much depleted line up dressing only 13 skaters but again the boys on the ice gave everything they had and pulled out a 3-2 victory to advance to the semi-finals. Andrew McIntyre who was everywhere on the ice scored the Rangers first goal 30 seconds from the drop of the puck with Tyler Dam picking up the assist . Keenan Dawdy broke in off a setup from Austin Benko to score his first of the game and give the Rangers a 2-0 lead after the first period. Fatigue started to set in and Central Ontario chipped away with a power play goal of their own in the 2nd and they tied it early in the 3rd. The Jr. Rangers wouldn’t quit and Keenan Dawdy’s 2nd goal of the game, a power play deflection from McIntyre and Dam half way through the 3rd held up as the winner.
This set the stage for the Jr. Rangers to face their cross town rivals Waterloo Sunday morning in the semi-finals.
A short bench and fatigue finally caught up to the Minor Midget Rangers in this back and forth affair. The Wolves scored midway through the first period and that goal held on as Waterloo defeated the Jr. Rangers 1-0 in the Waterloo Gold Puck Tournament Semi-Final game.
The Rangers are right back at it with 3 games this week before heading into Christmas.
Tuesday December 16 at Brantford 99ers 8:30 pm (Gretzky)
Saturday December 20 v Lambton Jr. Sting 4:30 pm (Activa)
Sunday December 21 at Waterloo 1:00 pm (RIM)
Come out and support you Kitchener Jr Rangers Minor Midget AAA Hockey club