Gloucester Rangers' Blog by AJ Matthews

So far the series  between the Gloucester Rangers  and Carleton Place Canadians has been nothing short of spectacular. We’ve had fight,goals, stolen pucks and some of the most consistent power plays I have seen  in a long time. With CPC  winning games one and two, then the Rangers taking three and four you would wonder what more motivation one might need, well just in case here are the top six reason the rest of the series is can’t miss hockey.

6. Tanner Hildebrandt

He brought the entire township of Carleton Place to their feet with his unbelievable 5 unanswered goals during game 2. I guess if 3 is a natural hat trick this must be a Hildenbrandt hat trick.

5. Andrew Creppin

He has accomplished a lot this season and it appears he isn’t finished. He has started climbing his way up the playoff record books in  all offensive categories. During game game  2 he tied a record dating back to the 80′s with 4 assists in a single game. If that  wasn’t enough he followed it up with a hat trick in game 3.

4. Carleton Place Power Play

While no favors have been done by the Rangers with the frequent trips to the penalty box (75 PIM  in game 2) the Canadians sure have capitalized with an astonishing 10 power play goals in the first 4 games. When a team is this consistent you have to stay out of the box or risk an early summer vacation.

3. He’s got the touch

So far during the series (remember we have only played  4 games) we have seen 5 players  notch a multi goal game, 3 of which have been hat tricks (Hildenbrandt, Pancel  and Creppin)  Devin Cobbold and Luke Martin are the other two.

2. We’re winning….are we?

So far this series we have seen 6 lead changes (there were no changes during game 2) Neither team is  willing to quit even when down by one or two goals. C.P. scored with six seconds remaining in game 1 to force overtime.

1. photo finish

With the  obvious exception  of game 2 (8-4 CP, 75 PIM ect) this series has been tight and very hard fought (on the ice, no goons) So to go with those 6 lead changes we have 3 one goal games and 2 of them went into over time. To say these two teams refuse to quit would be an understatement, I honestly believe these two clubs don’t understand the concept of quitting which is going to make for a solid finish…..wonder if we can make this a best of 11?

Game 5 takes place tonight at Earl Armstrong with a 7:30 puck drop

Game 6 CP Friday 7:30

Game 7 back at the Earl for 7.

Remember if you can’t make it to the rink you can catch every game  via Central live www.centraljuniorhockeyleague.ca or if you are in Carleton Place you can  join the gang at the Thirsty Moose.

-AJ

Wow, the 2010 season flew by.  Last Friday was a very special night in Rangers history and I feel fortunate to have been a part of it.  It was the final home game of the year and the final regular season home game in the long career of our captain Andrew Creppin. To show their appreciation for all he has done during his tenure  they retired his number 18.

To put this is perspective only one other number hangs above Earl Armstrong (Chris Armstrong 24) and thats even more astonishing considering some of the people  who have played here (Olympic Gold Medalist Dan Boyle SJ Sharks) and all those people Creppin has passed on his way to becoming first overall in all time Rangers assists (thanks to 3 on Friday) and points.

Congrats Andy, and thank you. You deserve it and good luck in Alabama.

There have been a lot of ups and downs this season, but I must say the team pulled it together when it mattered. They still look a bit shaky at times  in their D zone with giveaways but I have noticed an improvement where the forwards are back checking, everyone finishes their checks…when they do this those little mistakes vanish.  If they can stay mentally strong then I have no doubt they will move past Carleton Place and into the second round.

Be back during the first round with my take.

So far this season I have observed a lot of things from the Rangers. One of these things, which I have brought up before as it started to grow, is the slow starts. In the majority of games I have watched this season the Rangers have looked sluggish and lifeless for the first 10 minutes of the game. The passes are short, and if they are not intercepted usually end up in the players skates, there is no urgency when back checking and defensive assignments are all but forgotten.

Before I get in to deep let me admit I have never been to a practice or spent time in the team’s dressing room, this is primarily based on what I have witnessed at games.

In the past 14 games the Rangers have played the team that scores first, won. In that span the Rangers or 7-7. This trend obviously goes back further as I have written about it before and talked about it on air. So why is it the Rangers can’t get it going right away? I believe there are three components that influence the outcome of a game: Physical skill, mental and a little bit of luck.

Luck is something we cannot control so we will ignore that right away. Physical skill? Well the Rangers have 3rd best PP, 2 players in top 10 for points and starting goalie top 10 in league. I could go on, but the point is that skill is not the problem. So we have one option left, mental.

What is meant when we say an athlete has a mental edge? World known experts Dr. Ross Tucker and Dr. Jonathon Dugas suggest it involves: competitive spirit, big game temperament, attitude & discipline for both games & practice…

You can tell how hungry a team is immediately. They don’t wait for the puck carrier to come to them they challenge them. In 3 seconds a good player can make a great play and a great player can change the game. Especially when playing weaker teams this is something that lacks in the Rangers game, well the first 10 minutes. The Rangers have a decent warm up to prepare physically but it doesn’t translate at the start of the game and their competitive spirit is no where to be found.

I think the team would benefit a lot if they got stronger mentally. Coming into a game focused will make little things like passes connect a little bit easier. Everyone knows what you eat before the game will effect you, so will what you talk about, think about ect. If a player steps on the ice just finishing a conversation about a party, what they did during week ect then no wonder it takes 10 minutes to click into game mode. I am not saying get to the rink 4 hours before puck drop, but it has be proven that once you step in the arena focus on the game and nothing else and the rewards will be obvious to not only the coachs and fans but yourself.

The Rangers have the skill to be the top team in the CHL-T1, they just need to realize it and help translate it onto the ice, If they can lock up the mental aspect then the luck will surely follow.

One of my concerns in the last post was getting the first goal and starting early. Well in the last 3 games the Rangers have done just that and as no surprise that translates to 3 wins. Now the reason for the first goal being so important is that teams play differently when they have the lead. Last nights game was a great example, but I will get into that in a little bit.

I decided I want to start this off on a positive note. This past Thursday Earl Armstrong Arena and the Gloucester Rangers Alumni hosted the Ottawa Senators Alumni  team in a charity game to benefit Rene Faucher. It was wonderful to see how many people showed up to support both clubs and this great cause.   For more information about the cause or to make a donation please follow the link on http://www.gloucesterrangersjra.ca

My broadcast partner Frank Barrett spoke with many of the Rangers Alumni about their experiences with the Rangers, life after hockey and a few stories to remind us about past Ranger glory from past championships. The players from both clubs that Frank and I spoke with seemed sincerely happy to be there for the cause and they all smiled and had a great time. Personal highlight for me was getting to watch Chris Armstrong and Dave McGahan play. Chris is the only Ranger player to ever have his number retired and McGahan is sitting in the 2/3 slot in Ranger all time Goals,Assists and Points with current Ranger Andrew Creppin

The one thing I hope is that with so many current Ranger players in attendance they took the opportunity to speak with some of these players who have been here and won here. Many have also been successful playing hockey after Gloucester playing  NCAA, OHL, and the European professional leagues. In addition right down the hall were former NHL players like Brad Marsh and Shaun Van Allen. All in all they’re were a lot of people in on both teams with knowledge and experience that our Rangers could absorb.

If something happens once it’s an action, twice it’s a trend and three times its a habit and I am getting concerned with one Ranger habit in particular. In my last post I made a note that the Rangers gave up a 3 goal lead and ultimately lost in the shoot out. While Gloucester has won it’s last three games in the past two they have not made it easy on themselves. On Wednesday’s game against the Bears they Rangers came out flying and had a 3-0 lead. They were confident and thats what got them the lead but then it turned to cockiness. You can always tell when a team makes that transition, they stop attacking the puck carrier and hang back with one hand on the stick. They stop crashing the net and you go from heads up stick to stick passes turning into no look and drop passes. It was this point the Bears patience paid off, they kept fore checking and breaking up the lazy plays to score 4 unanswered to take the lead. Unlike the last time though the Rangers rallied and with a late goal by Cobbold they forced overtime. Just to secure his hero status Cobbold followed up his late game drama with an OT winner.

Last night had the same beginning and ending but it’s what went on in between that was different. Gloucester came out hard and had a 2-0 lead in the first period. Ottawa came back, forced overtime and Rangers win. Here is what is different. While it’s true the first goal did start because of a Ranger give away but after that they looked good defensively, especially once they only sent two deep fore checkers into the zone. It is also worth noting that the goal went in with approx .3 seconds remaining. Overtime solved nothing and we went to the shootout, where impressively Mike Webley remains perfect. His goal was matched and we went to extra shooters. Chretien looked great shutting the door allowing rookie Adam Lloyd to get the shoot out winner. According to rink staff Senators goalie Shepherdson was still at the arena this morning looking for pieces of his equipment that he was deked out of.

While it has been a great week for the Rangers in the win column, they do need to work on playing with the lead. They were able to rally back and recover against the Bears and Senators but they cannot afford to play like that night in and night out or it will catch up to them.  Pass with your head up, don’t try to deke out 2+ players, finish your checks and always be first on the puck, may sound simple but once it is put into practice it’s hard to play against.

The past week has seemed less like a hockey season and more like a roller coaster,if you ever needed a pulse check to make sure your heart is still going strong try following the Rangers for 7 days.  In that span the Rangers have been busy and productive with 5 points in 4 games (2-1-0-1) but we have seen so many scenarios play out. A 4 goal 3rd period comeback, shut out, losing 3 goal lead ect.

Let’s start with the 3 goal lead. The Rangers established a 4-1 lead midway through the second period in Smith Falls. However the Bears did not go quietly. They slowly chipped away at the lead taking it one goal at a time before tying it up with  4 minutes into the third period. Overtime saw the teams get 4 shots aside before the Rangers fell in the shootout 2-1. Mike Webley moved to 3/3 on shoot outs for the season.

Next came the Raiders in the battle for second in the division. Gloucester opened the scoring just 2:42 into the game, at that point they seem to have disappeared and the Raiders ran away with it scoring the next 5. To be perfectly honest the Rangers were no where to be found for the majority of the first 47 minutes of the game, but thats where things changed.  7 minutes into the third Mike Webley scores a power play goal and the Rangers didn’t look back. 7 minutes after that Webley sets up captain Andrew Creppin to bring them withen 2. At 18:07 and 18:25 D-man Richard Penning came up with two powerful goals with his cannon from the point. 1:26 into overtime and Michael Webley picks up his 5th point of the night and scores the game winning goal in a thrilling come from behind victory.  The one sour note was third line winder Philip Doucet was taken out of the game after a cheap hit from the registered goon of the Nepean Raiders. Doucet is out with a lower body injury.

Third game of the stretch was a 3-0 victory of the Kemptville 73′s.  This was the first time the home crowd got to see goalie Matt Couvrette, and they liked what they saw. The Rangers looked good from start to finish doing all the little things right: Got more shots, took less penelties and spread out the scoring (7 different players got a point)

Now comes tonights game. I have a personal policy about blaming officials for games, I won’t do it, but what I will say is this. No matter what sport it is the officials should never impact the outcome of the game, and with complete conviction I can honestly say that’s what happened tonight, and that is all I will say about it.

The game itself was similar to the Nepean game, once again the Rangers took 3/4 of the game to really get things going. A lot of the problems the Rangers were having tonight started in their own zone. The breakout was awful and the effort put forth to get the puck across the blue line was even worse. Around the 17 minute mark of the opening frame we had seen Pembroke score 3 goals on 7 shots, this was all coach Dorval needed to see before making the switch from Alex Chretien to Matt Couvrette. Couvrette responded well to coming off the bench and picked up right where he left off against Kemptville stopping 33 out of 34 shots. From that point on the Rangers once again pulled a late rally scoring 3 of the next 4 to pull withen a goal. With an empty net the Rangers fought hard with a 6-4 advantage before Alvarez stopped the comeback putting the puck in from his own zone.

The only thing that prevented the Rangers from sweeping those four games was themselves. Sometimes we really are our own worst enemy. Consistency is absolutely crucial at this level  and playing 60 minutes is as important as it gets. Had the Rangers played consistent they wouldn’t have given up the 3 goal lead to Smith Falls and would not have fallen behind early to Nepean and Pembroke. Moving forward they need to focus on eliminating the slow starts and keep it going from puck drop to the buzzer. It just goes to show that while signs are looking good and the team is moving in the right direction to contend with the top teams in the league, but they just are not quite there yet.

10-9 is a not exactly an ideal record, but it seems as if the sky is the limit for the Rangers. Especially when you consider the fact GM Paul Jennings may have found a cure for the teams achilles. It is no secret around the league the Rangers have been in desperate need to find a number one goaltender. A lot of games, 15 out of 20 to be exact, have had the opponents score at least 4 goals.

Now the reason to have hope comes in the form of trading D Sean Blunden to Cornwall for G Alex Chretian and a 2nd round pick. Chretian joins the team with a 7-1 record. When he started against his former team on Friday that made him the 7th goalie to start for Gloucester this year. The two games Alex has played in also happen to be 2 of the 5 games that  had less than 4 goals against. What makes this more impresive is the fact he did it against 2 teams ranked in the top 20 in the country, and THE top 2 teams in CHL-T1. I personally have only seen him play in two games, but he looked great and could be the missing piece to a long playoff run, starting with taking top seed in the Yzerman division.

Captain Andrew Creppin has really turned it on in the past 5 games with 10 points. He is currently riding out a 4 game multi point streak and 5 game point streak. Andrew has now moved into 3rd all time for goals (125) 2nd in assists (168) and 3rd in all time Rangers points (293) Creppin currently sits 1 point ahead of Pembroke T.Tosunian for top spot in league points.

With the Rangers taking 7 points out of a possible 8 in their last 4 games they have jumped 2 points ahead of the Nepean Raiders for 2nd place in Yzerman division, this adds some extra heat as the Raiders are coming to Armstrong Friday night (7:30) However, given the way the rangers are playing lately, especially with Creppin being hot and Alex Chretian shutting the doors I expect to see the Rangers battling for first in the division and leaving the bottom half fighting for third. The only thing stopping them is themselves. If they can stay out of the box, stay puck hungry, utilize your speed and help out the goalie by clearing the rebounds, then the sky is the limit.

2010/2011 pre-season underway.