After an almost two-year hiatus the wait is over. The North York Rangers and the rest of the Ontario Junior Hockey League are set to start their 2021-2022 season this week with all 21 teams set for action. It has been a while since we have seen these young athletes lace up and the 54-game schedule the league approved has all the potential to bring back the OJHL in a big way.
The North York Rangers will have some familiar faces back in the lineup with a handful of returning players making their way onto the ice again. Forwards, Max Donohoe, Jackson Edwards, Daniel Petreccia, Nathan Kellenberger and Joseph Lionti all return to the Rangers lineup. On the blue line, Aydin Parekh and Jaden Condota will make their return for the Rangers and between the pipes James Gray will be a familiar face for Rangers fans. Gray posted a .897 save percentage and a 3.65 goals against average in 24 games during the 2019 – 2020 season.
Even though it was an extended offseason, the Rangers were still busy trying to upgrade their squad with the team conducting a number of trades over the break. Most recently the team acquired Luca Rea from Pickering for forward Myles Perry. Luca has been part of the Rangers development program for two years now and is ready to make that next step. The Rangers also acquired defenseman Jaden Condotta from Georgetown and dealt Goaltender Eli Shiller to Wellington. Jaden has already made an impact on the Rangers squad when he was announced as the team’s Captain. He will be leading alongside Assistant Captains Maxwell Donohoe and Aydin Parekh.
With such a long and difficult off season compared to the norm there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to the 2021-2022 season but Head coach Geoff Schomogyi is staying optimistic.
“It’s hard to put expectations on a group after the year and a half being off due to COVID. We are excited about the group we have, and really looking forward to playing some hockey again this season.”
The Rangers are set to start their season off on Sunday October 5th against Caledon Admirals at the Herbert H. Carnegie Centre. Puck drop is at 2:45pm.
