‘TOTAL TEAM EFFORT’ HELPS RANGERS ROUT BLUES

 

GLANBROOK (Sep. 28) – Daniel Vella’s two goals led an offensive parade that saw eight different players score as the Glanbrook Rangers routed the Dundas Blues 9-3.

“That was a total team effort,” said Rangers’ coach Andrew Tait.  “We got great contributions from everyone.  It was nice to see.”

From goaltender Tiago Rocha up through the defence, the forwards and the special teams, the Rangers put on a determined display of peak efficiency in all aspects of the game as they collected their fourth win in five outings this season.

It took a little while, though.  The early stages of the game held no clues about what was to come as neither team was able to establish consistent momentum.  But as time went on, the Rangers started to click, and late in the first stanza, defender Ryan Reeves swept in from the point on a rush and converted a goalmouth pass for Glanbrook’s opening tally.

Vella scored the first of his pair at 4:37 of the second frame, and Ty Crombie upped the ante just over 30 seconds later with a power-play marker and it became clear that the Rangers had taken control.   Another quick strike gave Glanbrook a 5-0 margin as Vella scored his second and Chase Johnson connected for his fifth of the campaign soon afterward, those goals coming at 18:28 and 19:26 respectively.

“After a slow first period, I think we realized that we could do a lot better,” said Crombie.  “With that in mind, we knew we had to come out hot.  After Vella scored a nice goal early on in the second, things just started clicking.  We started working together and passes started connecting.  A total team effort was the perfect way to describe it.  Two big things we’ve talked about a lot is being on the same page as one another and communicating more.

“As the season progresses and our team chemistry gets even stronger, I believe that we’re going to be a very dominant team.”

While the offensive fireworks drew most of the attention, equally as important was the Rangers’ defensive effort, ably bolstered by Rocha’s steady work in net.   And when the Blues intensified their physical play in an effort to goad the Rangers, Glanbrook’s penalty killers were more than equal to the challenge.  Actually, the Blues’ strategy had mixed results:  they did entice the Rangers into taking several penalties, but then they obligingly returned the favour, effectively neutralizing their man-advantage situations while handing the Rangers a few extra-strength opportunities of their own.

“There has always been a strong rivalry between Glanbrook and Dundas,” Crombie said.  “After beating Dundas out of the playoffs last season, we knew that the game would be very physical and emotions would be running high, which is why going into the game we knew that we had to do our best to keep our cool and stick to our game plan in order to come out on top.”

In any case, the pace of the third period was markedly slower and sloppier as the teams alternated penalties and goals with equal frequency.   Nicholas Kisil finally got Dundas on the board at 5:14 of the final period on a Blues’ power-play, but Justin Vermeulen retaliated with a power-play marker for Glanbrook at 6:58.   Kisil added his second of the game at 8:50, followed by another power-play goal by Ryan Jormakka  at 13:40.

However, the Rangers countered with rapid-fire goals from Terry Bridgland (14:50), Harrison Farrugia (15:49) and Kyle Lukic (16:35) to finalize the conquest.

“We got a little off our game in the third,” said Tait.  “But we never got out of control.”

NOTES:  Fourteen of Glanbrook’s 18 skaters had points in the game, led by Crombie and Vermeulen, who had three apiece (1 goal, two assists) … Rocha earned his second victory in three appearances this season.

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