The Kitchener Jr Rangers MD Red team were reminded the importance of playing the whole game after blowing a 4-goal lead and escaping with a 4 to 3 win against the Waterloo Wolves Black Saturday night.
It wasn't the ideal start to 2020 that the undefeated Rangers were hoping for however they held on the get the victory. Hopefully, the players took the lesson and will also learn to play without the unnecessary penalties and selfishness.
Toby Pryce used the power play to open the scoring from Caleb Cumming and Logan Duke. Connor Coughlin had another power play marker from Kodi Blackshaw and Pryce. The Rangers then used the penalty kill to score with Cumming skating hard to the net after a nice breakout pass from Pryce. Denver Heiman had the games winning goal from Evan Peori and Duke.
Aiden Radatus reached his 16th win of the season after holding a shutout until just shy of 4 minutes left in the game. Had the team not buckled so badly in the third period, Radatus would have had an easier night. Radatus was especially sharp in the early stages and did a great job covering his angles and placing rebounds out of harms way.
For the first half of the game, the team’s defenders, Noah Park, Chad Morris, Josh McDonald and Matt Gallant, gapped perfectly and were able to make plays out of the zone with ease. The team had help from guys like Quinten Earle, Jake Fisher, Jacob Reid-Brant and Stephen Peppas on the back check and down low. However, as the game went on the Rangers fell victim to ill timed penalties and a complete lack of focus and drive.
That all said, as they say, good teams find ways to win even when they don’t always deserve them and kudos to the players for finding the win. The team will need to take these lessons serious should they continue their quest to finish the 20 game first half perfect.
Go Rangers!