The North York Rangers won one of their three games this past week to remain in the South division playoff contention.
North York @ Cobourg
The Rangers poured on the offence led by Tyler Flack and Cole O’Hara to ice the Cougars 6-2 on the road Monday night (Oct. 28).
Not much offence was generated in the opening 20 minutes from either side, so the game was scoreless heading into the first intermission.
The complete opposite happened in the second. In the opening minute on the power play, Flack rifled in the shot from O’Hara to open the scoring. The Rangers doubled up their lead off the stick of AP call up Sean Clarke. The forward picked off an outlet pass in front and snipped in his first Junior A goal in only his second game at 6:04. Austin Brimmer pushed the advantage to three with a shorthanded marker. On the same power player the Cougars cut the deficient thanks to Mac Lowry at 12:18. Less than 45 seconds later the Rangers responded with Flack’s second on night at 13:01. The got a late goal to head into the second intermission down 4-2.
In the third, the Rangers completely shut it down. Goalie James Grey recorded 17 of his 38 saves in the final frame to seal the victory. O’Hara added one on the power play, while Jake Cella potted a empty netter.
North York @ Markham
The Rangers attempted to record their first three game-winning streak of the season, but were ousted 8-4 by the Markham Royals on the road on Saturday night (Nov. 2)
The first period was even it terms of shots, 14-13 for Markham, but North York gave up too many off man rushes, which lead to three goals. The Royals were up 3-0 after 20 minutes.
The home team added to their lead early in the second from Nick Davis at 3:02. The Rangers responded right afterwards with goals from Tyler Flack and Myles Perry just over a minute a part to make the score 4-2 at 5:18. Unfortunately the momentum the Rangers created quickly disappeared thanks to Royals goal only a minute afterwards. North York got within two goals on two different occasions the rest of the game, but were unable to get any closer.
Tyler Flack and Cole O’Hara recorded three points a piece in the lost. Rangers starting goalie Eli Shiller was pulled after allowing six goals on 21 shots, while James Gray made eight stop on 10 shots in relief.
North York vs Brampton
North York ended the week hosting the Brampton Admirals at home on Sunday (Nov.3) afternoon.
Similar to their previous two meetings Brampton got the opening goal off the stick of leading scoring Christos Rodis at 13:32. The good news was the Rangers responded quickly, compiling two goals from Cole O’Hara and Austin Brimmer within a minute only a few afterwards. The Rangers went into the break up 2-1.
The visitors evened up the scored midway through the second. Peter Stojcevski raced down the right side and snipped the opposite corner at 10:28. The remained 2-2 heading into the final period.
The Admirals fired on all cylinders compiling three goals in the first seven minutes, two of which on the power play to gain a three goal lead. Brimmer added on late in the third to make it interesting, but the Rangers couldn’t get any closer falling 5-3.
Rookie goalie James Gray made 25 saves in a losing effort.
