March 23rd, 2006

One look at the head-to-head scorers tells half the story of the regular season battle between the Rangers and Attack, Bobby Ryan's 3 points and one goal in 5 regular-season matchups simply doesn't jive with his regular season totals which included a 95-point total.  After the World Junior Tournament (a tourney that Kitchener Rangers' leading scorer: Evan McGrath was not invited to), Evan McGrath simply left Ryan in the dust for the points race.  The second half of the story is Dan Turple and his perfect 6-0 record against the Attack.  No overtime losses for the Attack and no shootout losses either equated to zero poitns for the Attack over six games against their division rivals.

The Attack have made an upgrade in perhaps the most important position (in goal) with Michael Ouzas acquired from the Mississauga IceDogs, though unfortunately one could point a finger at his lack of post-season successes.  Ouzas was the Mississauga top 'dog' in goal during their shocking 5 game upset to start the first round against the Toronto Majors.

The Attack have lost their very deep core of forwards, but their blueline made significant gains in the off-season, simply by the fact that they weren't faced with much in the way of graduation.  Andrej Sekera just might be the single most electrifying player in the OHL this season and Bob Sanguinetti one of the highest ranked defenders to come out of Owen Sound in years looking towards the next NHL entry draft.  Often forgotten is the contributions of Jeff Kyrakos an overage forward who has really filled some holes left by high-profile grads: Stefan Ruzicka, Brad Richardson, and always fiesty: Robin Big Snake.  The Rangers have changed as well over the off-season, the scoring isn't quite as balanced (similar to the Attack) but the Rangers have 4 lines all of which can put the puck in the net, and a defense that many label as second to none.  With the departure of Andre Benoit from the Rangers' blueline many were concerned that the offense from the blueline might be an issue, yet Jakub Kindl and Matt Lashoff have filled in admirably.

Mike Angelidis was a catalyst for the Attack nearly accounting for half of the team's goals against the Rangers during the post-season last year.  He is a physical force and someone to look for on the power play infront of the Rangers' net.  Fortunately the Rangers' have a very physical defense core and lead the OHL in penalty killing with a mark over 88%.

Sekera, Sanguinetti and surprisingly tough guy Theo Peckham aren't shy about jumping up into the rush, something that Rangers' forwards have to pick up when it occurs.  Dan Turple has to continue his spectacular play against the Attack and the Rangers need to be better disciplined because the penalties (notably Boris Valabik's 39 minutes in 5 games) have to be curtailed.  On the Attack side of the ice, they simply cannot afford to ignore Kitchener's lesser lights: Nick Spaling, Cory Konecny, Kevin Henderson and Jean-Michel Rizk have had a knack of scoring some goals in critical spots for the Rangers this year.

Look for David Lomas to do some damage similar to that of David Clarkson in 2005 on the Rangers side of the puck.  Theo Peckham's abilities aside from dropping the gloves, simply cannot afford to be overlooked once he's in the neutral zone, he's a tough man to stop when he's driving the net.

Netminding (Top 2 Active goalies)
 

Player	GP	W-L-OTL	Avg	Sv%
Dan Turple	57	40-15-2	2.25	.924
Mark Packwood	16	7-4-0	2.66	.910

Netminding (Top 2 Active goalies)
 

Netminding (head-to-head)
 

Netminding (head-to-head)