Good afternoon.
A cold but sunny drive into 'Sauga for a matiness against the Trout.
I arrived early and took my perch in the press box for one of my favourite views in the OHL, at least from working perspective.
It's quiet in the barn. And it's kind of nice. Sort of like the calm before the storm.
A few wins last night by teams in the west has the Rangers back in seventh place. But the club is just six points behind fourth seeded Guelph and has three games in hand on the Storm.
Kitchener:
Connor Bunnaman-Ryan MacInnis-David Miller
Brandon Robinson-Gustaf Franzen-Adam Mascherin
Darby Llewellyn-Mason Kohn-Nick Magyar
Jack Kilgour-Mark Bzowey-Mike Davies
Max Iafrate-Liam Maaskant
Dmitrii Sergeev-Frank Hora
Doug Blaisdell-Dylan Di Perna
Jake Paterson (16-12-1-1) starts.
Mississauga:
Sam Babintsev-Michael McLeod-Jimmy Lodge
Josh Burnside-Bryson Cianfrone-Nathan Bastian
Damian Bourne-Everett Clark-Bobby MacIntyre
Cody Thompson-Jason Smith-Marcus Dickerson
Stefan LeBlanc-Brandon Devlin
Sean Day-Jared Walsh
Nick Zottl-Stephen Gibson
Jacob Brennan (1-5-0-0) starts.
Brownie points:
- Since coming to Kitchener via trade, goalie Jake Paterson has posted a save percentage of .928, which would place him first in the OHL if his Saginaw stats weren't factored in. With them, he's at .910. His 2.29 GAA would be second behind Oshawa's top banana Ken Appleby.
- The London Knights are only nine points back of the Soo for first in the OHL's western conference. That's quite unbelievable when you think of the turnover the team has been through and the fact that the Knights have been to the past three Memorial Cups.
- The fourth line was at it again, drawing penalties off their hard work in the first and second periods.
- Some aggressive penalty killing by Mason Kohn and Gustaf Franzen in part kept the struggling Mississauga power play silent.
- 7, 5 and 6. That is what Kitchener held Mississauga to in shots on net in each period. #nasty
- Proof again that you can have the best goalie in the league - and Paterson's stats with the Rangers are right up there - but if you don't score, you can't win games. That's twice in the past three games that backup goalies have had games of their lives vs. the Rangers. London's Tyler Parsons made 47 saves in a 3-2 OT win on Tuesday.
- A very frustrating loss as this is a game Kitchener should have won. And they had chances - six power plays and 48 shots.
- Complete amateur hour at the Hershey Centre post-game. A trio of reporters waited close to half an hour for goalie Jacob Brennan to come out for interviews and when he did we still had to wait so the girl doing promotions throughout the game could ask him questions first.
Later heard reporters have had to wait up to 45 minutes, prompting some to just leave without talking to players.
This would never happen in Kitchener. In fact, I've never had it happen in any other rink in the OHL. A real lack of professionalism that makes you wonder if fan apathy extends to the franchise's front office.
JB's top three Rangers: Ryan MacInnis, Max Iafrate, Brandon Robinson