LATE LETDOWN DOOMS RANGERS

 

PORT DOVER (Nov. 21) — A last-period slump scuttled what had till then been a solid effort and sent the Glanbrook Rangers to their third straight loss, a 5-3 decision to the Port Dover Sailors.

A promising opening saw the Rangers holding a 2-0 lead on the hosts by the end of the first period on goals by Brennan Ireland at 8:18, followed by a nifty shorthanded goal on a solo effort by Brandon Boyd.  The Rangers’ endeavours were a refreshing change on their somewhat lacklustre performance in their last visit to the Port Dover Arena, when they fell 6-4 to the Sailors.   And even after the Sailors managed to tie the contest on in the second period on goals by Ben Mason (2:25) and Zachary Johnson (16:17), Glanbrook  struck back just seconds later to reclaim the lead on Cooper Hood’s second goal of the season at 16:43 and the Rangers seemed to have the situation under control.

But, in the third period, “we just ran out of gas,” said Rangers’ coach Andrew Tait.   “We’ve played three tough games this week, and we’re still dealing with suspension and injury issues and it just took its toll on us.”

The Rangers previous outings were losses to Niagara (8-1) on Wednesday and Dundas (5-4) on Thursday; games where the Rangers were playing shorthanded and with forwards filling in on defence.  The scenario was the same against the Sailors (the Rangers had only 14 skaters), although the disarray that plagued Glanbrook, particularly against Niagara, wasn’t evident throughout the earlier stages of this match.

But, the Sailors eventually wore the Rangers down and erupted for three third-period goals —  by Dylan Stroud at 6:47, Michael Vanacker at 12:27 and Nick D’Agostino at 15:54 — while outshooting Glanbrook 16-9, to steal the victory, their second in three meetings with the Rangers.  The Sailors ended up with a 45-40 margin in shots over the Rangers, and tagged goaltender Sabastien Peto with his first regulation loss in four appearances

NOTES:  Missing from the Rangers’ lineup were forwards Sean Golebiowski, Ryan Burke, Christian Stevens and Eric Taylor, along with defencemen Dallas Nadasdi, Josh Lindsay and Daniel Vella.   Golebiowski and Nadasdi were sitting out suspensions and are expected back for Glanbrook’s next game.  … The Rangers were 0-for-4 on the power play.

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