Cory Genovese never thought he'd be coming home so soon.
The former Kitchener Rangers defenceman was settling into life up north in Sudbury after being traded this past January.
Then, about a week ago, he was sent south by the Wolves to the Erie Otters for scoring winger Connor Crisp and Jimmy McDowell.
When reached by phone, Genovese said both trades caught him completely off guard.
He fills a huge need for the resurgent Otters. The team allowed a west worst 312 goals against last year. Scoring they have in spades, but Erie needed a shutdown defenceman and got one in Genovese.
The Hespeler native spent a season and a half in Kitchener before being part of the trade deadline package that netted Josh Leivo, Frank Corrado and Joel Vienneau.
He'll have six dates instead of two against the Rangers this season. He's also happy that the Otters are turning the corner after back to back poor seasons.
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Kitchener's lines for tonight:
Brent Pedersen-Josh Sterk-Nick Magyar
Darby Llewellyn-Curtis Meighan-Eric Ming
Ty Learn-Jimmy Soper-Scott Teskey
James Mense-Dietrich-Kegan Blasby
Jared Gilbert-Max Iafrate
Doug Blaisdell-Owen Stewart
Dmitrii Sergeev-Frank Hora
Logan Schmidt
Tyson Teichmann starts
Erie:
Dane Fox-Michael Curtis-Hayden Hodgson
Stephen Harper-Dylan Strome-Pat Murphy
Travis Wood-Kyle Pettit-Nick Betz
Quentin Maksimovich-Blake Jones-Cole Mayo
Cory Genovese-Traver Dermott
Spencer Abraham-Adam Pelech
Justin Felker-Darren Radysh
Daniel Dekoning starts
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Puck points:
- Defenceman Jesse Young has been released by the Rangers. He is exploring his options. The Jr. B Dutchmen would love to have him back but there may be some interest in the QMJHL.
- Rangers GM Murray Hiebert says it's status quo on Ryan MacInnis (hip, day to day), Mason Kohn (ankle, week to week) and Mike Davies (upper body, questionable for home opener).
- The six Rangers at NHL camps - Ben Thomson, Ben Fanelli, Evan McEneny, Radek Faksa, Matia Marcantuoni and Justin Bailey - are still there. None returned to Kitchener yet.
- Brent Pedersen, Curtis Meighan and Eric Ming with the 'A' on their sweaters tonight.
- First period power play looked a mess for the Rangers. Lots of turnovers as well, early on.
- A shattered pane of glass seemed to energize the Rangers in the second. Two more assists for Josh Sterk, who has been on fire during pre-season play.
- Lots of talk in the press box by Erie staff and players about the play of Rangers blueliner Frank Hora. The rookie had a solid game.
- Defence really chipping in this year. Blueliner points on first three goals. All came off point shots.
- Some poor line changes tonight. Rangers lucky they didn't get caught on them.
JB's top three Rangers: Eric Ming, Josh Sterk, Tyson Teichmann