RANGERS’ TITLE HOPES HIT ROADBLOCK

GLANBROOK (Feb. 16) — The Glanbrook Rangers’ chances for a Bloomfield Division crown took a body-blow as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Hagersville Hawks.  The Rangers still have the proverbial mathematical chance to capture the title, but they would need to win all three of their remaining games while their rivals — Grimsby and Dundas — would have to suffer an epic collapse, losing four of the five matches they each have left.

The loss also ended Glanbrook’s four-game winning streak.   The Rangers have had their troubles against the last-place Hawks this season.  They finished with a 2-1-1-1 record, but were outscored 11-9, and three of their meetings went into overtime.  In the finale, the Hawks held a 1-0 lead after the first period on a goal by Jason Horvat, then took control in the second as they scored three times in a five-minute span to emerge with a 4-1 margin.   Riley Pinkney, Joey Stimac and Mikael Vicente did the damage for Hagersville; Brandon Boyd collected his third goal of the campaign for the Rangers.

Glanbrook shaved the lead to 4-2 on Christian Stevens’ second goal of the year at 5:18 of the third, but Zach DeMille sealed the deal for the Hawks with an empty-netter at 18:36.  Ethan Cook suffered his first loss in five outings for Glanbrook.

NOTES:  The Rangers’ last home game of the Covid-shortened season will be on Wednesday, Feb. 23 against the Niagara Riverhawks, after which they’ll finish with away games against Dundas on Thursday, Feb. 24 and Grimsby on Friday, March 4.