Ranger Mike Eagles grimaces as he tumbles
over the stick of Spitfires Brian Petterlie
during
Tuesday's match
For those
who wondered if a 10-day layoff would hurt the Kitchener Rangers, or if
the Rangers would ever start showing the intensity that took them to the
Memorial Cup final last season, the answers were obvious Tuesday night.
“Everything’s
back on track,” shining defenseman Al MacInnis said after the Rangers trounced
the Windsor Spitfires 4-1 in the opening game of the Ontario Hockey League
Emms Division semifinal playoff before 5,042 Auditorium fans.
“The
last few games of the regular schedule didn’t mean too much – especially
after we knew we couldn’t catch Ottawa for the overall lead – and we did
play all that well,” MacInnis said.
“But
we worked extremely hard at practice in the last 10 days and it really
paid off.”
It
was almost a case of practice makes perfect. The Rangers outshot
Windsor 44-17, held the Spits to a piddly three shots on goal in the final
period, successfully kill all six Windsor power plays and were one-for-three
on their own power play. In short the Rangers were masterful.
“The
whole club played well,” Kitchener coach Joe Crozier said.
“But
it’s going to be a different game down there (Windsor) Thursday.
They’ve lost only one of their last 18 home games (to Kitchener, Feb 18).
We’ll have to keep going at them and staying on top of them.”
Although
the Rangers lost only three of their last 23 regular-season games and set
a team record for most wins in a season with their 44-21-3 chart, the Rangers
often played only as well as they had to in order to win. They showed
brilliant spurts, but the long wait for another crack at the Ontario Hockey
League championship and ultimately the Memorial Cup was now over and it
was time to play for keeps.
“Before
the game we talked about what we had to do in the playoffs and we reminisced
about last year,” said captain Brian Bellows, who led the scoring with
two goals
Linemate
Jeff Larmer and MacInnis had the other Kitchener goals with MacInnis also
contributing two assists. Greg Gravel spoiled Wendell Young’s shutout
bid at 13:18 of the second period.
Playoff
fever was in the air from the opening whistle and it didn’t start subsiding
until MacInnis scored on of his typical goals – on a blast from the point
– at 13:59 of the second period to put the Rangers in command 4-1.
The
Rangers flew from the starting gateand picked up even more momentum at
5:56 of the opening period when rangy Mario Michieli, in one of his rare
fighting moods, unleashed a flurry of punches on Spitfire defenceman Darwin
McCutcheon. It seemed to set the tempo for the game, establishing
the Rangers as the winners. Two minutes after the one-sided fight,
Larmer took a perfect lead pass from Robert Savard, cut through the defence,
deked Kevin Hamlin and slid the puck home for a 1-0 lead.
“The
adrenalin was really flowing before the game,” MacInnis said. “Everybody
was really excited. Once we got out there, we played a pretty cautious
game. We didn’t want to open it up too much, especially coming off
the layoff, Joe (Crozier) told us (the defence) to stick to defensive hockey
and let the forwards do the scoring.”
Rookie
defenceman Scott Stevens, chosen the third star behind Bellows and MacInnis,
played like a seasoned veteran and jarred numerous Spits with his crunching
checks.
“I
was a little nervous at the start, but after I got in a few hits I settled
down and wasn’t as nervous,” said Stevens, who in the OHL coaches’ poll
was named the league’s second best body checker behind Steve Smith of Sault
Ste. Marie.
Not
to be outdone in bodychecking was Rangers’ rambunctious forward Mike Moher,
who twice slammed into Hamlin and was penalized each time, the first for
charging, the second for interference. “I don’t like the guy (Hamlin),”
Moher quipped. “Some of the things he said to me weren’t very nice.”
Spits’
coach Marvel Pronovost was in a snit after the game but eventually loosened
up and said his team has to have “more offensive thrust,” Thursday if it
hopes to win.
“We
weren’t jumping into the Kitchener end. By the time we got there,
they were coming out,” Pronovost said.
Rangers
have now won six of seven games against Windsor this year and have lost
only one of their last 13 against the Spits, whom they defeated in five
games (four wins, one tie) in last season’s Emms Division championship
series.
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It
was early in the second period when the Windsor Spitfires swift right winger
Todd Hooey broke in alone on Wendell Young with the Rangers leading 2-0.
In
fact, many of the 5,042 Kitchener Auditorium fans attending the Emms Division
semifinal open still hadn’t made it back to their seats when the six-foot-one,
185 pound Hooey decided to make one more move instead of shooting.
Young
wound up easily blocking Hooey’s backhandeder. Seconds later the
alert Ranger netminder also handled a hot drive off left wing by Hooey’s
linemate Gus Green.
Yes
indeed, the Spits had the Rangers reeling at that point. But like
a moment of passion, it was soon over. When rookie Paul Lawless also
blew a fine scoring opportunity around the five-minute mark, the Spits
should have hightailed it back down the 401.
The
4-1 final score flattered the Boarder City crew who can thank goaltender
Kevin Hamlin for saving them the humiliation of a double-digit blowout.
Shots
on goal sometimes don’t tell the entire story but in this case they most
certainly did. The Rangers outshot the Spitfires 44-17 overall, 15-3
in a scoreless third period.
By
then, both Hooey and Greco had departed with injuries, leaving center Claude
Loiselle as the lone member of the Spits top scoring line. Both injured
wingers are expected to play in game two of the eight-point series in Windsor
Thursday.
Hooey,
18 a two-goal scorer in each of the last two games of the upset series
victory over the Niagara Falls Flyers, says he’ll be ready for Thursday
night’s rematch. But he was grimacing at times as he chatted with
reporters and his twisted knee could be far more seriously damaged than
he suspects.
It
was late in the second period when Hooey had to be helped off the ice by
two teammates after a collision at center. He didn’t return.
Greco also missed the third period after aggravating a shoulder injury.
Windsor
scored only 259 goals, five fewer than the last-place Sudbury Wolves.
The London Knights lead with 359, and the Rangers finished fourth with
322.
Five
Spitfires cracked the 30-goal mark, Hooey finishing on top with 39, followed
by Loiselle with 36, former Oshawa General Greg Gravel with 34, Greco with
31, and team tough guy George Finn with 30 (also 224 penalty minutes).
“I
think it’s pretty obvious that we’ll need more offence,” Hooey said.
“We’ll also have to tighten up in our own end and cut down on their point
shots.”
Hooey,
an Oshawa native who was overlooked in the annual midget draft two years
ago after missing much of his major midget year with pneumonia, would also
like to see his mates flex their muscles a lot more in game two.
He
didn’t find it the least bit amusing when Mario Micheli used ex-Ranger
Darwin McCutcheon as a punching bag five minutes into the game. And
Hooey liked it even less in the third period when rugged Scott Stevens
flattened Loiselle with a quick right.
But
the Rangers not only dominated the fisticuffs. They accumulated 40
hits in all, 16 in the first, and 12 in each of the second and third periods.
That’s 10 above average according to statistician Don McDonald who pointed
out that center Mike Eagles did most of the thumping in the first two periods
with five solid hits.
Nicholls
and Stevens also used their weight effectively as did pugnacious Mike Moher.
Spitfires coach Marcel Pronovost
might have echoed Hooey’s concerns. But after barking at a Kitchener
radio reporter Don Gross, the crotchety NHL defence veteran walked off
in a buff.
“Ask me a
specific question and I’ll answer it,” snapped Pronovost who objected when
Gross asked him how he’d assess the series opener.
Pronovost
had gotten ugly once before with one of Gross’ colleagues. But on
that occasion, the Spits had just lost no. 16 in a string of 20 straight
loses.
Windsor went
on to post a credible 14-16-4 mark since that humiliating 20th straight
defeat Dec. 18. What’s more, they went on to upset a formidable playoff
opponent in the Niagara Falls Flyers, six points to four.
“We’re a
young team and we eventually came together,” Hooey said. “We made
three or four changes and everything seemed to fall into place. We
know we’re up against one hell of a club in Kitchener, though.
“But we think
we can win. We have to think that way, don’t we. What have
we got to lose. We weren’t supposed to be here anyway. Hard
work is what got us here. If we don’t work hard, we don’t win.”
Maybe the
Spits didn’t work hard enough Tuesday night. Maybe they will play
better as the series progresses. But the division-winning Rangers
did finish 43-points ahead of the fifth-place Spitfires in the standings,
and from this angle it looks very much like the series will be a one-sided
affair as well.
To that,
Todd Hooey might say phooey.
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