It was yet another accomplishment for the Kitchener Jr Rangers MD Red team, winning the Alliance East/Central Playoffs as top seed, with a 4 to 1 win over the second seeded Burlington Bulldogs White, Saturday night in Kitchener.
The Rangers will enter Play Downs facing off against the Brantford 99ers, who the team won their series 4 to 0 in the playoffs against. However, it is now the most critical time of year with the winner of this series earning the rights to compete in the Alliance Championships. Brantford has showed great progress and compete as of late and hold a fantastic test for the Rangers.
Quinten Earle had a pair of goals for the Rangers with his first goal being set up from Logan Duke and Denver Heiman and his second on the power play from Kodi Blackshaw and Duke. Caleb Cumming scored an absolute rocket striking the back bar from the high slot with assists from Connor Coughlin and Jake Fisher and Jacob Reid-Brant went bar down shorthanded from Fisher and Matt Gallant.
Owen Neomytka closed off the playoffs for the Rangers with a solid performance in net and made key saves for his team picking up his 29th victory in the outing. Neomytka was exceptional with rebound control and made life miserable for the Bulldogs making 25 saves.
Yet again, the Rangers felt the loss of Toby Pryce on the backend. Pryce is a key player for the team and is still nursing an injury. In his absence, Chad Morris, Noah Park, Josh McDonald, Gallant and Blackshaw have had to work together to find chemistry and play big minutes.
It is expected that the first round of Play Downs will be an emotional, hard fought battle as the two teams have had a history of bad blood. The players will need to remain focused and disciplined if they want to reach their season long goal of a Triple Banner, Alliance Championship club!
Go Rangers!