By Jamie Neugebauer
Corey Kalk notched two goals in his return to the lineup, including the game winner, as the North York Rangers clinched their first round victory with a 3-1 win in Game 5 over the St. Michael’s Buzzers on Friday night.
Gabriel Valenzuela had the other goal for North York, who gains a measure of revenge for being eliminated in the conference final by St. Mike’s last season.
Jason Pucciarelli was outstanding in goal for the Rangers, making 30 saves and allowing only a single tally on a very unlucky bounce off the back wall on a power play.
Valenzuela opened the scoring at the 5:17 mark of the second period when he collected a pretty feed from John Carpino on a 2-on-1 and calmly deked to his backhand before going upstairs on Buzzers goaltender George Argiropoulos.
Kalk got his first of the game when a Patrick Piacentini point shot trickled through Argiropoulos, leaving the Dartmouth commit to lunge and jam in the loose puck and make it 2-1 at 9:28 of the middle frame.
His second came 8:37 into the third after he pounded home a Matthew Whittaker centering feed on a 3-on-2 rush.
All but one first-round series have been concluded as of Friday, with Buffalo looking to finish its series with Mississauga on Saturday night.
Our second round opponent is yet to be determined, so stay tuned to the North York Rangers website, Facebook page and twitter feed @OJHLRangers for details!