Rangers Drop First of the Pre-Season to Barrie Friday
September 9, 2022 – Ontario Hockey League (OHL) – Kitchener Rangers News Release
Kitchener, Ont. – The Rangers suffered their first loss of the pre-season by a score of 4-1 to the Barrie Colts. Defencemen Tomas Hamara found his name back on the point sheet with his third assist in as many games while Matthew Fishman and Joseph Serpa both scored their firsts of the pre-season. The Rangers are back at The Aud Saturday September 24th at 4:00pm against the Mississauga Steelheads.
Barrie opened the scoring late into the first period at 18:23. A pass from behind net was centred into the slot for Cole Beaudoin where his shot squeaked through the five-hole of goalie Marcus Vandenberg.
The Rangers forced some turnovers but couldn’t convert on any of their chances. The period ended with the Barrie Colts up 1-0 and shots tied with six a piece.
Penalty trouble hindered the Rangers as they took four different trips to the box in the second frame. That opened the door for Barrie to score three unanswered goals. The second goal of the game came at 2:40 on a 5-on-3 advantage for the Colts with a high-glove wrist shot from the right circle by Declan McDonnell. Then for the Rangers, both a shorthanded 3-on-1 play and a breakaway chance were stopped by newly introduced Barrie goalie Sam Hildebrandt that kept the Colts ahead by two. At 14:50 Barrie found their third goal on the game off a deflected point shot saved by Marcus Vandenberg, but the rebound was slapped home to the top-left corner of the goal. Another rebound goal at 17:23 was scored by Roenick Jodoin when he took the puck from skate to stick and slid the puck past an outstretched Vandenberg.
The second period ended with a goal by the Rangers to cut the lead to 4-1 at the 19:42 mark. A point-shot from defencemen Matthew Andonovski was deflected through the five-hole by forward Joseph Serpa to notch his first of the pre-season. The period ended with shots favouring the Colts 25-14.
The Colts added a fifth at 10:49 of the third period. A quick wrister off the draw by defencemen Josh Kavanagh from the right hash-mark found the top-left corner. The Rangers would respond at the 13:22 mark when forward Matthew Fishman found himself all alone in the slot and slid a backhand shot around the right leg of the Barrie netminder. The Colts put the final nail in the coffin with 14 seconds left in the game on a cross ice feed from Artur Cholach to Justin O’Donnell to end the game by a score of 6-2.
The Rangers were 0-for-3 on the power-play and were 2-for-4 on the penalty-kill. Final shots favoured the Colts 32-29. The third star of the game went to Kitchener’s Matthew Fishman.
Next up, the Rangers will face the Colts in Barrie Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at Sadlon Arena. Saturday’s road contest will be televised throughout Kitchener and the Waterloo Region on Rogers TV, cable channel 20, and across the province of Ontario on the Super Sports Pak, channel 463 for cable subscribers.
The East Avenue Blue will finish their pre-season home schedule Saturday, September 24th when the club hosts the Mississauga Steelheads at The Aud at 4:00 p.m.
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