A hearty Happy New Year to all.
Thought I'd take the scenic route from the in-laws in London to Owen Sound. The idea sounded great. The execution not so much.
Things went smoothly for about an hour. Then I hit Mennonite rush hour passing more than two dozen horse-drawn carriages.
Got past that only to get hit by a brutal snow storm. Good times on the OHL beat that's for sure.
I guess I should be thankful since I've managed to get into Owen Sound thrice without incident this season.
Nothing against the city, but I won't miss driving up here in the winter.
Of course, the Rangers will now probably meet the Attack in the playoffs.
A few snaps from my journey are included for your viewing pleasure.
As for today, the Rangers and Owen Sound are both looking for their first win of the year (see what I did there?).
Kitchener:
Brandon Robinson-Gustaf Franzen-Justin Bailey
Mason Kohn-Ryan MacInnis-Nick Magyar
Darby Llewellyn-Curtis Meighan-Adam Mascherin
Jacob Cascagnette-Connor Bunnaman-Mark Bzowey
Dmitrii Sergeev-Frank Hora
Doug Blaisdell-Liam Maaskant
Logan Schmidt-Dylan Di Perna
Matt Greenfield (8-7-1-2) starts.
Owen Sound:
Petrus Palmu-Kyle Platzer-Zach Nastasiuk
Justin Brack-Ethan Szypula-Jaden Lindo
Ryan Heeps-Jeff Gilligan-Jacob Busch
Jonah Gadjovich-Keenan Reynolds-Connor Walters
Chris Bigras-Santino Centorame
Damir Sharipzyanov-Thomas Schemitsch
Tyler MacArthur-Jarrett Meyer
Michael McNiven (7-2-0-0) starts.
Puck points:
- So just how bad did Oshawa want former Rangers' F Brent Pedersen? GM Roger Hunt first approached Kitchener about the winger in September.
- A big 11-4 win for London over Sarnia last night. I don't know how you can't rate the Knights' staff as executives of the year in the OHL. Three straight trips to the Memorial Cup and they come back this season - in what should be a down year - and are rolling right along. Remaining competitive is not an easy thing to do in this league but London has the recipe figured out.
UPDATE: Of course, since typing this, London has dealt Michael McCarron and Dakota Mermis to Oshawa for Cliff Pu, Josh Sterk, two seconds and a third. I understand the team needs to recoup some draft picks but I thought London - as it stood - could have played major spoiler in the playoffs. That being said, the team can still score in spades with Max Domi, Christian Dvorak and Mitch Marner.
- D Max Iafrate will miss the game while serving the final game of his three-game suspension. F Brandon Robinson and coach Troy Smith are back after completing two-game suspensions, all relating back to a fight after the team's game against London in mid-December.
- Rangers' F Mike Davies is out for this weekend, at least, with an upper body injury (read: concussion).
- For now, the Rangers aren't giving Brent Pedersen's 'A' to another player.
- The new top line of Franzen, Robinson and Bailey clicked nicely. It has some speed, skill and toughness. MacInnis and Magyar - now on the second unit - have clicked since skating side by side for all of last season.
- First goal since Nov. 1 for Mason Kohn, first since Nov. 30 for Darby Llewellyn. A good sign but the Rangers are going to need more of this in the second half.
- Kitchener had a two goal lead in the third period and gave up the game tying goal with 1:07 shy of the final whistle.
- The Rangers gave up a breakaway and a two-on-one in overtime but Matt Greenfield stood tall.
- That was the second time this season Brandon Robinson and Owen Sound's Tyler MacArthur have dropped the gloves.
- Owen Sound and Kitchener have gone to a SO in four of the seven games they've played against each other this season.
JB's top three Rangers: Brandon Robinson, Dmitrii Sergeev, Ryan MacInnis