The North York power play clicked for two goals but it was not enough as the Rangers were unable to complete the rally and fell 5-3 to the Burlington Cougars at the Herb Carnegie Centennial Arena Sunday.
Veteran defender Tyler Currie added his first multi-point outing as a Ranger, while Gianluca Baggetta and Jeremie Lintner split 24 saves in the North York net.
Christian Mitri opened the scoring 7:24 into the first period when he broke in alone on Burlington net minder Andrew Lee, outwaited him wide, and then slipped the puck into the open side of the goal.
It was the only lead the Rangers would have on the night.
Cougars’ forwards David Thomson and Ben Morris both cashed in alone in front of Baggetta after lost assignments at the 10:09 and 16:44 marks of the first period, respectively.
Zac Hermann wired home a one-timer on the power play 3:41 into the second frame to put Burlington up two, but Fedor Rudakov finished off a pretty passing play on a North York man advantage with just over a minute remaining in the middle stanza to cut the lead back to one.
It took the Cougars a mere 18 seconds to get it back, however, as Thomson banged in a rebound with 45 ticks left on the clock.
Nick Campoli jammed in a rebound from a Currie point shot on a Rangers’ 5-on-3 at 9:57 of the third to make it by one once again, but Daniel Volpe stuffed the puck into an empty net with exactly one minute remaining in regulation to seal it for the Cougars.
With 21 points now in 21 games, Campoli leads all 1999-birth years in the league in scoring, with the second best Alex Formenton of Aurora sitting at 14 points.
Coaches Brent Hughes and Frank Littlejohn, and six players, including Currie, Ryan Takamatsu, Jeremy Szabo, Gianluca Baggetta, Michael Morgan, and Campoli, will now head to Cornwall for the 2015 Eastern Canada Cup All-Star challenge, where they will represent the OJHL.
The event runs from Nov. 16 to 18.
