The North York Rangers snapped their five-game losing skid this past weekend, toppling the Orangeville Flyers and St. Mike’s Buzzers on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Saturday in Orangeville saw an explosion of offence as North York broke out to a 5-1 lead, but needed to hang on in order to come away with a 6-4 victory.
Ture Linden led the way, tying his season high with four points, while veteran defenceman Shawn Tessier added three helpers as the Rangers won their first game since Jan. 25.
Ethan Wiseman, Noah Robinson, Ross Krieger (2), and Joseph Mizzi also had goals to help the club snap their season-high skid.
Sunday afternoon at home to arch rival St. Michael’s had a playoff feel to it from the get-go, and the tension was only cut 11:23 into the second period when Wiseman absolutely blasted home a Shawn Tessier feed from the left circle into the top corner past Buzzers’ goaltender Cosimo Lazzarino.
Linden made it 2-0 when he cut in from the left wing and rounded Lazzarino at the 14:30-mark of the second period, and then Wiseman got the third 2:06 into the third period, stripping a St. Mikes’ defender, and roofing it with the same authority with which he buried the game’s opening goal.
Andrew Breda and Mark Paolini got late markers for the Buzz, but Jett Alexander shut the door the rest of the way in the North York, with the rookie goaltender making 32 stops for his 13th victory of the campaign.
The wins launched North York back into seventh place in the southwest conference with four more games left on the regular season schedule – only two points behind the Toronto Patriots for sixth.
The Rangers are back in action on Saturday night when they travel to Scotiabank Pond to take on the fifth-placed Toronto Jr. Canadiens; puck drops at 8:00 p.m.
