ROAD WARRIOR RANGERS SURGE INTO SEMIFINAL

 

HAGERSVILLE (Mar. 19) — The Glanbrook Rangers eliminated the Hagersville Hawks in a 4-1 road triumph to advance to the South Bloomfield Division seminfinals against the Dundas Blues.  The Rangers took the series in six games. It was the second time the Rangers defeated the Hawks in the intimidating confines of Hagersville Arena and came on the heels of a disappointing 4-1 loss in the previous game on home ice last Wednesday.

“We knew going in we would be dealing with the crowd and an energized team,” said Rangers’ coach Andrew Tait.  “It was important for us to get a quick start, as the previous two games we were behind the 8-ball early.   It started off a little back and forth, but once we got on the board, it gave us a spark.”

Defenceman Dallas Nadasdi was the catalyst for the Rangers as he notched his first goal of the post-season at 17:27 of the opening stanza.   Joel Wallace quickly put Glanbrook ahead 2-0 with his fourth of the playoffs as the Rangers exploited another power-play opportunity at 1:26 of the second period.

“It’s always important to get the first goal,” Tait continued.  “But even more so on the road in an elimination game. After we got the first, I feel like we relaxed a little and were able to play a little more freely, as opposed to playing nervous and desperate.  We didn’t allow them to get under our skin like in games prior, and we didn’t let the crowd get into it.”

Even after Hagersville’s  Mikael Vicente trimmed that lead to just one goal four minutes later, the Rangers didn’t falter and Ethan Wellings re-established a two-goal cushion at 9:27 of the second.  Cooper Hood put the finishing touches to the Rangers’ ledger with his third playoff goal at 15:38 of the final frame.   Ethan Cook, making his second start in the series, earned the victory in goal.

So the Rangers now have a few days off to prepare for Dundas, against whom they had two wins, a tie, an overtime loss and a loss in five meetings while outscoring the Blues 18-11 with eight of those goals coming in an 8-1 victory just before the January shutdown for Covid.  Their last encounter was a 1-1 draw on Feb. 24 at Market Street Arena.

“We have lots of work to do preparing for Dundas,” Tait said.  “Like Hagersville, they battled us hard all year, and all but one game were one goal games.  We will need to tighten up in our end, as Dundas have some offensive threats.  I thought for the most part (against Hagersville) our penalty killing was good, but obviously we don’t want to let Dundas play on the power play as much as we did the Hawks.

“Discipline will be huge in this series.”