Five different Rangers found the back of the net as North York ended the pre-season on a high with a solid 5-1 victory over the Orangeville Flyers on Monday evening.
Veteran forward Ted Hunt led the way with three points on the night, while Gianluca Baggetta and Eugene Makarski split the contest in the North York net.
Afterward, Rangers head coach Brent Hughes was content with the direction his club is heading as the regular season dawns.
“I really liked our intensity tonight,” said Hughes.
“Going into another team’s building is always tough, but it is early days. We want to play aggressive, guys were high energy tonight, everyone was communicating and that is a good sign going forward.”
Nick Zanette one-timed home a Louis Kereakou feed from in front of the net to give North York the lead at 17:12 of the first period, and then less than a minute after James McLaughlin evened the score 7:08 into the second, new Ranger Kegan Blasby scored on a beautiful individual effort to bag the eventual game winner.
Ryan Takamatsu converted a breakaway at the 18:14-mark of the middle frame for North York’s third, and then Nick Campoli and Hunt notched power-play markers in the third period to seal the win.
The Rangers earned seven power plays on the contest; something Coach Hughes said was a direct result of the club’s tenacity.
“I think our work ethic was key in that area,” said Hughes.
“The penalties the Flyers were taking weren’t cross checks or anything like that, they were more hooks and slashes that come when you are working hard. That is what we’re going to be all season; I say to the guys every day, we will not be outworked. That starts in practice, and we have three big days coming up this week to prepare for Game 1 of the season on Sunday.”
North York will open up its regular season on Sept. 6 when it hosts the defending Buckland Cup champion Toronto Patriots at the Herb Carnegie Centennial Arena. Puck drops at 3:00 p.m.!
