The Gloucester
Rangers Major Atom AA team are Ontario Hockey East champions
after sweeping past the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven in four
straight games to win the title.
After
winning the first three games in the first to seven point
series 4-3, 6-4 and 4-1, the Rangers downed the Silver Seven
7-4 in the series finale on March 21 at the Cavanagh Sensplex
thanks to a trio of answered goals late in the third period.
Adam Saari
opened the scoring for the Rangers at the 3:52 mark of the
first period, but the Silver Seven responded with a pair
of goals in the final two minutes of the opening stanza
to take a 2-1 into the break.
An unassisted
marker by Nolan Burchett at the 1:24 mark of the second
period would briefly tie the score only to have the Silver
Seven regain the lead on a goal from Xavier Goussis less
than three minutes later. They then extended their advantage
on a goal from Chris Neil.
Down two
goals heading into the third, the Rangers got a pair of
goals from Bennett Desrochers and Jack Yates midway through
the period. They then blew the game wide open with three
goals 57 seconds apart in the next to last minute of the
game.
Max Crete
opened the floodgates with his 12th of the playoffs and
then Desrochers scored his second of the game 15 seconds
later. Crete then put the icing on the cake with lucky number
13.
The Rangers
went into the playoffs with a small chip on their shoulder
after losing the regular season title by just two points.
The team had the title in their sights with just two games
remaining but losses to the Kanata Blazer and the Silver
Seven saw it slip through their fingers.
Determined
to redeem themselves in the post season, the Rangers won
the first two games of their opening round series against
the Rideau St. Lawrence Kings in impressive fashion, but
a 3-1 loss in Game 3 would serve as a wake up call for the
young team which bounced back to win Game 4 by an identical
3-1 score and take the first to five point series six points
to two.
After
sweeping past the Kanata Blazers in the semi-finals, the
Rangers won the first two games against the Silver Seven
before the March Break. After a 12 day layoff they picked
up right where they left off, winning Game 3 4-1 to set
up the series finale on March 21.
The Rangers
top scorer in the playoffs was Max Crete with 13 goals in
11 games, including a pair of shorthanded efforts. Xavier
Landriault and Jake Yates added eight ad seven goals respectively
and Bennet Desrochers led the team in assists with eight.
In net,
goalies Jackson Howell and Liam Creally combined for nine
wins and a 1.82 goals against average.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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