RAGGED EFFORT RATTLES RANGERS

PORT DOVER (Oct. 17) — This was a game the Glanbrook Rangers would probably be happy to forget … but might do well to remember, if only as a cautionary example.

It was a chaotic, misfit of a contest chock full of errors and characterized by a decided lack of zeal,  in which the Rangers dropped a 6-4  decision to the Port Dover Sailors, ending Glanbrook’s brief two-game win streak.

“Yeah, we were way, way off our game,” said Rangers’ coach Andy Tait.  “There were times when we showed signs that we had it figured out,  and there were other times when we didn’t.  We’re still scrambling, but there are no excuses … we just weren’t ready to play this game.”

Niether team was particularly sharp, but Glanbrook seemed especially afflicted by mishandled pucks, passes that either went awry or weren’t received deftly, confusion in the defensive zone and an inability to generate any sustained momentum.  Still, they managed to keep things even until the mid-point of the third period:  Glanbrook’s Sean Golebiowski and Port Dover’s Ben Mason traded first period goals, while Nick D’Agostino connected twice for the Sailors in the second, answered by Glanbrook’s Dallas Nadasdi and Tyler Daniels.

But the moment that tipped the balance in the Sailors’ favour more or less epitomized the Rangers’ struggles.  With the score knotted at 4-4 just past the mid-point of the third period, Glanbrook earned a power-play  and the chance to put things back on the right track.

But a bobble at the Port Dover blueline sprang Sailors’ forward Isaac Macaulay on a rink-length break culminating in a shorthanded goal that pretty much deflated the Rangers’ hopes.  D’Agostino completed his hat-trick with an empty-netter to round out the tally.

“We had about 10 minutes of good hockey,” said Tait, summing up the disappointment, “but about 50 minutes of letting them take the game to us.”

NOTES:  Glanbrook was 0-for-7 on power-play opportunities … Rangers’ goalie Mitch Robinson made 34 saves in absorbing his second loss of the season … Golebiowski and defenceman Brennan Ireland each had two assists for the Rangers.