This past weekend the Minor Peewee AAA Rangers participated in the 46th Annual Kitchener Blueline Tournament. The team enjoyed an excellent weekend of hockey while conducting themselves with the class that you would expect from the tournament hosts. And they managed to skate away with a little bit of hardware too ...
The Kitchener crew started their weekend on Friday with contests against Grey-Bruce and Nickel City. In both games, the Rangers flashed some offensive prowess and were able to spend plenty of time in the opposition end of the rink. Good puck movement and unselfish play led to two convincing victories which set-up a Saturday morning encounter with the North Central Predators who also mustered two Friday wins.
Again on Saturday morning, the Rangers were able to put the opposition on their heels. All three forward lines and defensive pairings contributed in this full team effort. They tilted the ice and sustained regular pressure in the North Central zone. The Predators' chances were kept to minimum, but when called upon, Ranger goaltender Hunter Welk was, well ... perfect. It all added-up to a 6-0 victory and secured a berth for Kitchener in Sunday's semi-final. The Junior Rangers completed the round robin with another convincing victory over the Markham Majors. This time it was Devin Ingalls who backstopped the 3-0 shutout victory.
On Sunday, the KJRs faced division rivals Huron Perth with a trip to the finals at stake. The Lakers often give the Rangers fits. Sunday morning was no exception. Despite plenty of pressure in the Lakers' zone, the Rangers surrendered the first goal of the game. However, they pushed back quickly and didn't trail for too long before squaring the score by the end of the first. The Rangers had a significant shot advantage in this contest, but thanks to some outstanding goaltending by the Lakers, Kitchener carried only a slim 2-1 lead into the final stages of the game. To Huron Perth's credit, they were able to tie the game on a late marker with their goaltender pulled. So, it was off to 3-on-3 sudden death overtime. The teams exchanged some quality chances through about four minutes of end-to-end action. But both goaltenders were up to the challenge. Luckily for Kitchener, the players were much more composed than their parents in the stands whose highs and lows went back and forth with each change in possession. Kitchener's Maddox Turner ended the drama about halfway through the overtime frame when he solved the Huron Perth netminder and sent the Rangers onto the final.
In that final, the Kitchener kids would be re-matched with the North Central Predators. Apparently these Rangers had enough drama for the day. They quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first few shifts of the game. They enjoyed the majority of puck possession and generated plenty of chances while limiting any opportunities for the Predators. The Kitchener bench cheered as they counted down the final seconds of the third period. Moments after that final buzzer sounded, the Kitchener zone was littered with sticks as well as blue & red gloves. And the scoreboard - which hung in the corner above a swelling pile of happy Rangers - read Rangers 5 Predators 1. The players and coaches celebrated their tournament victory and centre Jordyn Ertel earned player of the game honours - and a new Bauer hockey stick - as MVP.
Bravo Zulu young Rangers and coaches! Congratulations on a terrific weekend.