No team in the OJHL has been busier than the North York Rangers. Tuesday night marked the final game of a four-game in five-day stretch. Let’s rewind to Friday night and recap the weekend that was.
Friday night the Rangers played their first of two straight road games against the Markham Royals. Ervie Terwilliger (2) and Peter Smith (3) would score in the first period and North York never gave up the lead going on to win their first game of the season by a score of 5-3. Dylan Dewachter stopped 33 of 36 shots in his first career OJHL start earning the win. Cole Bowditch finished the game with 4 assists, a career high for a single game.
Alexey Kulikov (1), Elias Greenwood (1), and Matthew Babiy (2) would score the other 3 goals for the Rangers.
The second game of the weekend saw the Rangers taking on the Haliburton County Huskies on Saturday night. Cain Tucker (1) opened the scoring less than 6 minutes into the game, but that was all the offence the Rangers were able to muster in this one they’d go on to lose 5-1. Amir Valiullin got the loss stopping 36 of 41 shots from the Huskies.
The only other Rangers with points on the night were Matthew Babiy and Elias Greenwood who assisted on the Tucker goal.
Sunday came around and North York found themselves at home, hosting the undefeated Trenton Golden Hawks. Trenton scored 3 goals in the first 10 minutes of the game and 4 straight in the second period and wound up winning 8-2. Jacob Owsicki (1) and John Kenney (1) scored the two goals for North York in the loss. Dylan Dewachter got the start stopping 29/36 shots, before Valiullin was sent in for closing duties stopping 12/13 shots in the third period. Jayden Essig got his first career OJHL assist on Kenneys goal.
The Rangers finally got a day off on Monday before squaring off with the Lindsey Muskies on Tuesday at Herb Carnegie Centennial Centre.
Despite the full schedule, the Rangers got on the attack early, with Peter Smith (4) scoring less than 8 minutes into the game and Jayden Essig (1) scoring his first career OJHL goal just 7 minutes later giving the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Lindsay captain Nathan Taylor (1) would score a powerplay goal with just over 2.5 seconds to go in the first and we went into the 2nd period with North York up 2-1.
With Lindsay on the powerplay still early in the second, the Rangers would rebuild their two goal lead thanks to Matthew Babiy (3). From that point on it was all Muskies, they’d score 2 in the 2nd period to tie it up going into the 3rd period, and 2 in the final frame to take home a 5-3 victory.
After the first two weeks the Rangers sit with a 1-6 record, the most games played in the entire league and will look to bounce back next weekend.
Next Up
Friday September 20th @ Trenton 7:30 PM
Monday September 23rd vs Mississauga (Gale Centre) 5:00 PM
Wednesday September 25th @ King (Gale Centre) 8:00 PM
*Bold indicates game will be a part of the Governors Showcase in Niagara
Click here for more information on the Governors Showcase.
Fast Facts
Jacob Owsicki and John Kenneys goals against Trenton were the first of both of their OJHL careers.
Kenneys goal came with 1.5 seconds to go in the period… Talk about a buzzer beater.
Jerry Wang made his OJHL debut on Friday in the win against Markham.
Elias Greenwoods goal Friday night was not only the game winning goal but also his first career OJHL Goal.
North York had 41 shots in Tuesdays loss to Lindsay, a new season high.
