By Jamie Neugebauer
It goes without saying that goals are always nice, but the surest way to make a head coach happy is to severely limit the oppositions’ chances.
The Rangers succeeded and then some on Sunday afternoon when they outshot the Orangeville Flyers 46-18 (including 22-8 in the first and 12-2 in the second) and outscored them 7-2 in Oakville at the Governor’s Showcase.
“Obviously I like the seven goals,” North York head coach John Dean said, “but more than anything I liked the shots against. We limited their chances on [goaltender] Jason Pucciarelli, which I think is the most important thing.”
Corey Kalk got his big night going early when he tucked a rebound past Orangeville net minder Taylor Welsh at 1:22 of the first period.
The future Dartmouth forward then dangled Welsh twice in five minutes with two beautiful breakaway goals to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead after two periods of play.
Anthony Latina, John Carpino, Phillip Chadder and Michael Giacometti all scored in the third to pad the score sheet.
“I think the guys put a lot of expectation on themselves I think I put a lot of expectation on them,” Dean said.
“We were starting to question ourselves a bit, our confidence and our abilities so yeah, there is a bit of a sense of relief by everybody. We can say to ourselves, yeah we are a team that’s capable of producing in a big way and playing well in the defensive side of the game so to get that second win, I think it’s a relief for everybody.”
Kalk, who also assisted on Carpino’s goal, moved himself into a tie with Carpino and Adam Valadao for the team lead in scoring with his four-point outing.
“Obviously Corey Kalk broke out in a big way and had a couple of great individual efforts,” Dean added, “and but when you have talent on your team like that I think everyone else kind of gets excited about it and jumps on board.”
The Rangers look to build on the solid outing on Thursday night when they travel north to take on the Hurricanes in Newmarket and open a busy, three-game weekend.
