Feb 18, 2019 | Brad Dunlop | 490 views
Winterfest Tournament Review
The Rangers Red traveled to Stoney Creek to participate in the Winterfest Select Tournament over Family Day Weekend!
The Rangers Red put up a good showing at a tournament with an open Bantam division. The boys went 2-2 over the weekend and gained some valuable experience heading into their final regular season games preparing for the Alliance Championships in April.
Game 1 vs Dundas Blues saw the Rangers Red take on a tough team from Dundas. The boys battled hard for the majority of the game and finally started to get their legs underneath them into the 2nd period. After going down 1-0 , Sam Clark tied the game up at 1's with a laser beam shot bar down on the Dundas goalie. The third period saw a number of penalties back and forth and with 12 seconds left in the game a questionable penalty shot was called against the Rangers. Max Thompson stood tall in net and made a huge save which pushed the game to OT and gave the boys a chance to win. In the 2nd 3 on 3 round of OT Sean Disbrow picked up a loose puck skated in and went high blocker to give the Rangers the big win to start the tournament. Max Thompson took home the Workhorse of the Game for his crease heroics to send us to overtime to give us a chance to win.
Game 2 vs Niagara Falls Flyers saw the Rangers Red get back to their high speed puck moving game which ended up being a strong 4-1 team win. Nathan Hancock played well between the pipes keeping the momentum on our side with some timely saves. Providing the offence was Sean Disbrow, Brock Smith, and Ethan Goetz. D was strong led by some great pursuit and outlet passes by Bradley Wigmore and Owen Stewart. Rowan Dunlop took home the Workhorse of the game for his strong two way play and puck moving work with his linemates.
Game 3 vs Lawfield Thunder which we knew going into it would be a big test for our team. Although the boys played hard all of our scoring chances were from the outside as Lawfield did a good job protecting the middle of the ice. The boys had no answers for a bigger faster Lawfield team who came ready to play, moved the puck quickly and generated a number of 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities in our end. A tough 4-0 loss was handed to the Rangers but we took some good learning points away from this game. This team ended up being the eventual tournament champions. Brody Voll took the Workhorse of the Game for his shutdown D and his ability to move the puck with good accurate passes out of our zone.
Game 4 vs Mimico Canadiens which was another tough test for the Rangers of Kitchener. This was a very good end to end game with a number of chances at either end for both teams. A true 50/50 game that could have went either way but the Rangers ended up on the losing side 4-2. The boys worked hard in this game and had a number of good scoring chances and in the end Mimico converted on two powerplays that sealed the Rangers fate. Nathan Hancock was strong in net and held his ground on 2nd and 3rd chance rebounds which earned him the Workhorse of the Game. Daniel Deckert received the Player of the Game for this game for his really strong two way play and his ability to create scoring chances with his speed.
The boys put a good solid effort in this weekend and worked really hard playing teams again that were made up predominantly of major bantam players. This experience will make us a better team and has given the coaching staff a number of key improvement areas for the team as we continue to get stronger as a team. As we said to the boys at the end of the last game, even if you don't feel it at this moment we became a better hockey team this weekend.
Go Rangers Red Go!