The Kitchener Rangers kicked off their first tripleheader of the season Friday night on East Ave. The Rangers hosted a Flint Firebirds team much better than expected this season he entered the game with a record of 5-3-1-0.
One of those wins came in a game where the Firebirds defeated the Rangers, beating them 3-0 earlier this month in Flint. Since then, the Firebirds have recorded three more wins, putting them on a four-game win streak.
As for the Blueshirts, they had a huge win against the London Knights last Sunday. However, they suffered a blow on Thursday. The Sherwood Park Crusaders in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) announced the signing of Oscar Hemming, a top prospect in this year’s NHL draft classwho was initially signed to play for Rangers this season before his transfer was disputed by his Finnish organisation.
Nevertheless, the Rangers must move on, and they started to evening of the seasonal series against the Firebirds.
Dominant from start to finish
The last time the Rangers played the Firebirds, we saw a somewhat similar first period, with the Rangers controlling the scoring opportunities and the game tied after twenty minutes. The difference between the two games was the Rangers’ performance in the final two periods.
In the first game of the season, the Rangers faded after dominating shots 10-3 in the first period before losing 3-0. This time the Rangers defeated the Firebirds 28-9 and scored three straight unanswered goals to close the game.
It should be noted that Mason Vaccari was phenomenal for the Firebirds in net. He made two save-of-the-year stops and numerous saves on high-quality scoring opportunities. The Rangers didn’t give up; they continued to swarm the Firebirds and finally broke through. With how much offensive zone time the Rangers had in this one, the game felt over from the moment they scored their second goal.
This performance was on par with some of the Rangers’ most dominant performances of the season. They carried over the strong play from last weekend’s win in London and have now played 120 straight minutes of good hockey.
Alex Forrest striking on the wing
It was a great all-round game for the Rangers. Several stood out, especially Colorado Avalanche prospect Christian Humphreys, who was the game’s first star with a goal and two assists. Nashville Predators first-round pick Cameron Reid also had two assists. Cameron Arquette had a goal and seven shots on net, Tanner Lam had a goal on five shots and Avry Anstis scored his second goal of the season. Although they were held pointless, each of Alexander Bilecki, Luca Romano and Jack Pridham had four or more shots on target and could have made the stat sheet several times.
The only Ranger I would like to highlight from the game is Alex Forrest, who again played out of position on the wing.
Forrest played the first two games of the season with the Rangers on their blueline before their NHL prospects returned from training camps. With the strength of the Rangers’ defensive core, Forrest was sent to the Cambridge Redhawks of the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL), where he scored 21 points in nine games.
The Rangers were looking to add offense, and taking the opportunity to play him at forward seems to have paid off. Forrest recorded his first Ontario Hockey League (OHL) point with an assist in the Rangers’ win over the Knights. While kept off the scoresheet in this 4-1 win over Flint, Forrest made several plays on the forecheck that led to Rangers chances, made some nice passes to put teammates straight ahead and had four shots of his own.
Forrest’s combination of speed and stick control allowed him to disrupt the forecheck. Once he gets the puck on his stick, he has all kinds of offensive talent. The Rangers may have found something here with him playing on the wing. I wouldn’t be shocked if we continue to see Forrest in this role throughout the season.
Rangers Faithful showed up for a while
On Friday night, the Rangers had to compete in the biggest sporting event in Ontario since the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 NBA Championship, and the biggest baseball game in Toronto Blue Jays history since 1993.
I’ll be honest: When I drove to the Au on Friday, I thought I was walking into a ghost town. It was busy there, though, and the Rangers reported an official crowd of 6,084 people. Slightly smaller than the typical Friday crowd, but an incredible turnout considering the circumstances.
Once the Blue Jays game started, however, the building quickly emptied, whether just in the concourse where the game was broadcast on televisions in the arena, or elsewhere. To me it was a testament to how strong the Rangers fanbase is.
Even at the must-see World Series game, fans showed up to cheer even though they knew they would be leaving early to watch another game.
Even after the building was empty, a fair number of fans continued to watch hockey. This was evident after Dalton Varsho’s home run, when the crowd erupted in a casual fight for the puck along the boards.
Later in the game, chants of “Let’s go Blue Jays” came through the Aud. It was a unique environment, with all fans rooting for two teams at the same time.
I’m sure no one would admit it, but there was absolutely no extracurricular activity after the whistle on this match. It seemed like the players were also trying to move the game to get back into the locker room to tune in for the end of the game.
The Rangers return to action on Saturday night at 7:30 against the Barrie Colts, 30 minutes before the first pitch in Game 2 of the World Series. Rangers fans, I hope you have two screens to keep up with all the action.
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