Despite a valiant effort, the Rangers couldn’t beat the Cornwall Colts for the second time in as many weeks during their first home game of the calendar year on Sunday night.

Before the game, Captain Michael McMurtry was presented with the CCHL Player of the Week honours which seemed to inspire his teammates as they stepped on the ice. The team was skating well and a steal by Daniele Disipio lead to an early chance.

A Colts dump-in bounced off the referee and right on to the stick of Michael Phillips who walked in and put it past Rangers starter Sébastien Gratton. In frustration, Daniel Baslyk took a penalty, but the Rangers were equal to the task of the strong Colts powerplay giving the home team some momentum.

Gratton made good saves in the first before another shorthanded opportunity lead to a Travis Meyer breakaway and a tied hockey game, 1-1 after one period.

In the second, the Colts again took a lead on a Kyle Baun goal, but the Rangers stuck with it sending lots of rubber Lukas Hafner’s way. Baslyk got the puck over to Michael McMurtry who was patient and eventually spotted Mathieu White open in front and he tied the game up again.

In the third, the Rangers continued their strong powerplay and penalty killing work, but couldn’t get the lead. Baun added his second of the game to defeat the Rangers 3-2. For his good pressure and skating, Disipio was awarded the second star of the game.

On Friday night, the Rangers lost 5-1 to Kemptville after outplaying them heavily in the opening minutes.

At last week’s trade deadline, the Rangers pulled off a deal with the Kanata Stallions who were active trying to show they belong in the Fred Page Cup they’ll be hosting this spring. As Rangers DJ Serge Lavoie pointed out, “the Cobbler’s got new shoes” as Devin Cobbold moved to the Stallions. In return, the Rangers got Fred Poirier and Nick Samoluk, who was immediately moved to Hawkesbury for Travis Meyer.

Cobbold played parts of three seasons with the Rangers and finishes fourth in all-time games played with 137 games. When he was traded, he tweeted (@TopCornerCobbs8) “I want to thank everyone from the Gloucester Rangers for making my last 3 years of Jr. hockey so enjoyable, I learned a lot and had too many good times. Good luck to the boys and I'm excited to be a #Stallion and play in the #FPC (Fred Page Cup).”

The Rangers host one of the top teams in Canada, the Carleton Place Canadians, on Friday night.

The Gloucester Rangers rung in the New Year by beating one of the toughest teams in the CCHL this year, the Cornwall Colts, on Thursday January 5.

A road-trip to the waterfront arena was the perfect place for the Rangers to kick off the year. Captain Michael McMurtry scored on the team’s very first shot at 2:43 of the first period, assisted by Mike Martin. It gave the team’s leading scorer and their representative at the All-Star Challenge a good boost to start the second half.

At the Challenge in Smiths Falls, he helped represent the Yzerman Division by leading its team in points with 4 assists during the competition. The team lost out in the semi-finals. It was also a good chance for scouts to take a look at McMurtry and his teammates.

The Colts came back with goals later in the first and during the second, but the Rangers were not done. With some pressure on their powerplay late, November’s rookie of the year Alexandre Boivin was able to put one past goalie Lukas Hafner to tie up the game. McMurtry and Mathieu White got the assists.

Overtime solved nothing so the teams went to a shootout to see who would get the extra points. Each of the team’s first shooters scored but no one else did until Jacob Jammes put one in during the fourth round.

After the game, Eric Witzel (@ericwitzel) tweeted “Big W tonight boyz…Playoffs??? #itsgonnahappen” showing the team’s commitment to winning as they come down the stretch.

Also during the Christmas break, Jammes and some of his teammates were busy during the showcase game for players born in 1995. He collected one point, Alexandre Boivin scored twice and Daniele Disipio put up two assists for the Yzerman Division. John Owen Stewart helped out on defense while goaltender Gunnar Rivers made 9 saves in his 22 minutes of play to get the victory.

Rivers has stepped up tremendously during his rookie season and is poised to take over the number one job on the team. He was a second star during Thursday’s effort making 28 saves in the win.

On Friday night, the Rangers lost 8-5 a high-scoring game to the Smiths Falls Bears as McMurtry and Devin Cobbold each picked up two goals. Brett Varrin had 3 points.

The rookie defenseman has been pretty impressive since he became a regular at the start of the year and has put up nine points (1G, 8A) so far this season. But it’s his play in the defensive zone that has garnered the most attention.

“I’d say I’m an offensive defenseman, but who is also reliable in my own end,” he explained after a game against Nepean. “We’re a young team so I get lots of ice.”

With that ice the 6’2”1/2, 195 lbs. d-man has been able to make the most of his opportunities on the team. Gloucester protected him in the draft two years ago and this year he became a staple on the blueline after graduating from the Upper Canada Cyclones. He got one goal and one assist in eight games last year with the Rangers.

On the ice, the 1995-born player likes to take charge. “I like to move the puck but when I have the shot, I’ll take it. If other guys make mistakes, I am a leader. If someone makes a mistake, I’ll give him a pointer.”

He developed that leadership while watching idols Chris Pronger and Erik Gudbranson of the NHL. He also likes the style of former teammate defenseman Alex Gudbranson of the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. As for offensive defenseman and Canadian Olympian Dan Boyle, “he’s a guy to look up to.” And a former Gloucester Rangers player too.

John Owen Stewart dreams of eventually making his way to the NHL, but which route he will take remains uncertain. “I was drafted to the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, but I’m also open to the NCAA. I’ve talked to a few schools- school comes first over hockey and my stress that a lot.”

With its education program, the Gloucester Rangers have been able to help him out off the ice and fellow players and coaching staff help the development on it. “(Former Ranger) Jordan Fequet was a good example for me. He’d show me what I was doing wrong and helping me out.”

Now, the tall young man is helped by fellow d-man Daniel Baslyk who stands at 6’5”, 215 lbs. and was acquired for Fequet from Hawkesbury. Both, along with their teammates, will be showing off their skills at the CCHL Christmas Showcase where they will take on the Carleton Place Canadians and the Smith Falls Bears at the Nepean Sportsplex on December 17 and 18.

With his soft hands and quick moves, it is no wonder that Rangers forward Alexandre Boivin was awarded the rookie of the month award for November. The 5’10”, 150 lbs. rookie’s play was recognized for the honour by the CCHL brass.

To close out the month, he scored a hat trick as the Rangers beat the Kanata Stallions on home ice last Wednesday. Not to be outdone, fellow rookie Daniele Disipio also put two goals on the board as the team finished with a 6-3 win.

Boivin has had an impressive campaign so far along with a whole host of rookies on the team. He stands out with 11 goals and 17 assists in his 34 games. Chad Millett has also been impressive with his nine goals and 11 assists.

The Spink twins put on a show during a visit to Earl Armstrong as Tyson and Tylor combined for three goals and five assists during the Colts’ 7-2 win over the Rangers on Friday night.

On Sunday, Gloucester got 51 shots on net but only four managed to find their way past Kemptville’s Ryan Mulder as the Rangers fell to the 73’s on home ice. Daniel Baslyk has continued to impress since he arrived with the team and got healthy putting up three assists on the afternoon.

Through the past four games, Boivin has managed to record a point in each with a total of six during that period. At this pace, he might make it repeat rookie of the year awards for the Rangers. Last year, Nathan Pancel received the award before going on to the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

The Rangers don’t play at Earl Armstrong Arena again until the 15th of January, but they will be busy with games against the Brockville Braves this Friday, the Christmas Showcase at the Bell Sensplex on December 17 and 18 and the league’s all-star festivities between Christmas and New Year’s.

Upcoming articles:

Feature on big defenseman John Owen Stewart

A chat with Nathan Pancel

Half-season wrap-up

This year’s edition of the Rangers is one of the youngest teams in the league. While this means that the team had a lot to learn at the start of the year, there was one thing that head coach Sylvain Favreau couldn’t teach the youngsters: how to grow a moustache.

With the CCHL’s decision to participate in Movember, the boys put away their razors for a month of growing an upper lip sweater. Unfortunately, most of the upper lips are still chilly as the hair hasn’t come in too strong for many players.

However, Brad Vaughn has used his age and experience to grow one of the better moustache’s on the team. “Really, it’s not even that good,” he explained a few days before month’s end. “A lot of the guys are just too young.”

While the Rangers D-man admits not having any genetic predisposition for growing a thick mouth hat, he certainly doesn’t have the disadvantage of fair hair like teammate Chad Millett. Reports indicate that Millett’s light hair even caused him to experiment with hair dye to improve his MO.

As the month comes to a close, many who tried to get their whiskers out there like goalie Gunnar Rivers will finally get to shave their ‘stache, much to their girlfriend’s delight. That’s not the case for trainer Gerry Ferguson, an expert in moustache growing techniques, who’s below the nose facial hair is 33 years old and won’t be going anywhere soon.

Asked whether he had considered shaving for Movember, Ferguson gave a non-categorical answer: “It was not going to happen.”

Still some players might want to keep their new found friends as a cold winter approaches. Vaughn is thinking about it. “I might see if I can keep I ‘till the end of the year if we raise enough money,” he says.

On the ice, the Rangers had a solid weekend with a 5-3 win over the reigning national champion Pembroke Lumber Kings and a close 4-2 loss to the Nepean Raiders who are currently ranked 7th in the country. In Friday’s win, Brett Varrin scored twice and Eric Witzel had 3 points (1G, 2A) and Miguel Laurin picked up his third goal of the year off a point shot and Michael McMurtry his 14th on Sunday.

The Rangers are home again on Movember 30 when they will greet the Kanata Stallions and on Friday when Cornwall comes to town. Both games are 7:30 starts at Earl Armstrong Arena.

The Gloucester Rangers have been disappointing teams that think they can get two easy points from the team. Over the course of the past couple of weeks, they have shown that they can play with the big boys and take the two points for themselves.

Case in point: their win against the Kanata Stallions on November 22 where they marched into the Kanata Sportsplex eager to pick up the W. The work started early as Chad Millett scored 6:31 into the first period with assists from super-rookie Alexandre Boivin and wily veteran Devin Cobbold.

In the second, they exchanged goals with the Stallions until the game was tied 2-2 but not before newly acquired D-man Daniel Baslyk was able to pick up his first goal of the year. Baslyk, a so-called stay-at-home defenseman, picked up a powerplay goal with help from the same two players who had assisted in the first.

The Rangers, who a few weeks ago couldn’t get results on the powerplay, then brought out the firepower on the powerplay again where Jacob Jammes and Alexandre Boivin both scored. With a second left, Chad Millett put in an empty-netter assisted by Devin Cobbold who had four assists in the contest. Eric Witzel got an assist giving him a three game point streak (1 G, 4A).

The 5-3 victory helped reduce Kanata’s hold on the last playoff spot as across town the Cumberland Grads got to within one point of the Stallions with their win over the Pembroke Lumber Kings.

Two weeks before the Rangers had pulled what people who don’t know the team would qualify as an upset against the Carleton Place Canadians beating one of the top teams in the league 8-5 on November 11. It marked the end of the Canadians 11 game win streak. With all of their gears in place, the Rangers are a dangerous team that can take on the top teams in Junior A.

This past weekend, they slipped 6-4 against Kemptville and fell to the Ottawa Jr. Senators 3-2 in overtime.

Upcoming articles: Player profile – Defenseman John Owen Stewart

On Wednesday November 9 the Gloucester Rangers played host to the Brockville Braves, but more important to the Orléans Branch of the Legion.

Branch President and MWO (ret.) Dick Rutter was on hand for a solemn and dignified ceremony before the game where both teams honoured Canadians who have served their country.

He was very pleased with the team’s efforts to recognize the sacrifices made by veterans. “For me his shows how much more the youth are getting involved in the Week of Remembrance. They are picking up the torch,” he said quoting John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields.

“Younger people now respect the veteran because they know more about us. It has opened up the minds of youth of what has happened. Young people don’t glorify war but they want to know what veterans did.”

He mentioned that the recent campaign in Afghanistan has brought the realities of war to a new generation. “Before all young people saw was a war movie. Now they are seeing more and are more in tune with realities.”

Mr. Rutter also pointed out the many links between hockey and Canada’s servicemen and women. The Memorial Cup, the OHL’s Brampton Battalion and Windsor Spitfires, the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL and many other teams were named after war-related stories and events. “Commentator Ron MacLean is a honourary colonel-in-chief and Don Cherry was awarded a honourary degree from the Royal Miliary College, though he hasn’t accepted it.”

After the ceremony, a hockey game got underway. The Rangers were quick to tally like they had been on Sunday afternoon. Mike Martin took the puck from the point and lofted it towards the net where it saw its way through traffic and into the back of the net.

From then on, the scorching hot Braves brought their “A” game and took advantage of powerplay opportunities. They led 5-1 after 2 periods.

Rookie goalie Gunnar Rivers played a solid game despite the score. He faced 52 shots in the game.

In the third, Devin Cobbold sniped a shot from the circle and brought the score to 6-2 giving a little hope to the Rangers. His recent penalty killing prowess and offensive outburst, scoring three goals in the past two games, has helped the team immensely.

Kyle Leduc and Sebastien Dion also had strong games but couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities.

The final score was 8-2 for the Braves.

What a difference two days makes! After Friday night’s outing against the high-flying Nepean Raiders led to a loss, the Gloucester Rangers regrouped for a big win on Sunday afternoon in Navan against the host Cumberland Grads.

With many players taking the SAT test on Saturday morning, after taking classes that the team sponsored, they were able to relax before their big game the next day. Add to that a couple of extra bodies in the lineup including Captain Michael McMurtry and steady rookie John Owen Stewart and the team was firing on all cylinders during the weekend’s second matchup.

The Rangers opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game as Alexandre Boivin took a pass from Chad Millett and put it behind Grads starter Robin Billingham. Newly acquired defenseman Mike Martin also got an assist. The Grads tied it up a couple of minutes later as the see-saw battle that lasted most of the game began.

Later in the period, Devin Cobbold got on the board with Chad Millett and Zachary Rheaume assisting. Before they had time to announce the goal, Cumberland had tied it up again and the teams went into the dressing room after the first tied at 2.

It was a bit more of the same in the second period as the Rangers put one in with a nice pass from behind the net from the Captain to Brett Varrin who scored his 6th goal of the year. Within seconds, though, the Grads had tied it up all over again. Then, the Rangers started taking a few penalties, but solid penalty-killing led by Cobbold, Stewart, Leduc and Disipio put a stop to any thoughts of a Cumberland PP goal – they barely let them into the zone!

The Rangers started the third down a man, but they quickly killed off the penalty and took that momentum down the ice where they pressured the Grads. There, Varrin returned the favour by setting up McMurtry, a goal also assisted by Miguel Laurin. It looked like the Rangers would finally lead for good.

As the clock ticked down, the Rangers continued the excellent pressure they had put on the Grads all afternoon leading to frustration and penalties for the hosts. After Philippe Drouin tripped up the Ranger coming streaking into the zone, Gloucester went to the powerplay. The PP had been improving all game long and it was just a matter of time before the crisp cross-ice passing was rewarded. After some neat passes and a good job of Martin keeping the puck in the zone, it ended up on Cobbold’s stick who fired a laser right under a sprawling Robin Billingham.

The Rangers continued putting excellent pressure on the Grads until the time expired, giving Gloucester its fourth win of the season and second in the past three games.

It was a much different team than the one on the ice Friday that had a tough time getting organized on the specialty teams and lost 9-1 to Nepean.

The team is back on the ice at Earl Armstrong Arena on Wednesday, November 9 where they will face off against the surging Brockville Braves. Before the game, the Rangers will honour the sacrifices of Canadian men and women by hosting a Remembrance Week Ceremony and inviting members of the Legion to the game. The team has been wearing poppies on their helmets for the past week.

Statistics can often be deceiving in sports as they don’t tell the whole truth about what’s happening. That is certainly true of the recent rough patch for the Gloucester Rangers. Their 4-3 win Sunday over the Ottawa Jr. Senators illustrated the fact that practice and effort pay off.

“We’re able to bring young guys in and the competition level is there,” explained head coach Sylvain Favreau before the game. “There’s tons of talent and it’s just a matter of time before it gels. We have total confidence in each and every player on our hockey club.”

That confidence paid off as they put up tough fights against many of the league’s better teams including the Cornwall Colts and the Cumberland Grads who were in the middle of a four game win streak. Then they brought it all together to beat Ottawa.

The Rangers were trailing 3-2 after 2 but knew they were still in the game. Young Jacob Jammes tied it up with his seventh goal of the year and then Zackary Rheaume put one in on the powerplay with under a minute to go.

Lately the Rangers have had a tough time keeping all of their bodies healthy, especially on the back end. John Owen Stewart, another promising rookie, went down with an injury in a game against the Cumberland Grads and Spencer Ross hasn’t played since October 19th.

“We have nine players who are injured, which means we have to bring more players up,” says the coach. “We’re able to bring young guys in and the compete level is there.”

To help out on the defensive front, the Rangers decided to trade assistant captain Jordan Fequet to the Hawkesbury Hawks in exchange for 6’5’’ defenseman Daniel Baslyk and a first and sixth round draft picks. Fequet was an excellent bodychecker and a very offensively gifted defenseman.

“Our main focus is on defensive zone coverage right now,” says Favreau. “Jordan is more offensive and we wanted o give him an opportunity in his last season on a team where he can be a better fight. In Baslyk we get a stay-at-home defenseman. We’re trying to build defensively and take pride in our own zone.”

With this move, Gloucester will be in a good place for the next couple years once the defense core gets fully adjusted to the league.

“It’s important for us to progress whether or not there are wins or losses on the board,” believes Favreau. “We’re grooming this group. One of our focuses is to improve our program. We’re really working on this year and the years ahead.”

One player who will hopefully be with the team for a long time is rookie Daniele Disipio who had a four game point streak that saw him score goals in three consecutive games. He also brought a much-needed spark to the lineup, getting his teammates to skate and check at his pace.

“He plays hard every shift of every game, he never gives up on pucks, he’s got tons of speed and can produce five on five,” comments his coach. “We’ve put him on the penalty kill where he does well. He’s got a tremendous work ethic and is willing to learn with teaching.”

The youngster was one of the top talents in Midget AAA last year and is now finding his place in the CCHL. He now has eight points on the year divided evenly into goals and assists.

Last weekend was a tough one for the Gloucester Rangers who didn’t manage to pull any points from their opponents in their two games.

On Friday night, last year’s national champion Pembroke Lumberkings marched into the Earl Armstrong arena intent on showing the Rangers why they are still an impressive force to watch.

The Rangers had a strong start playing very well positionally and making good plays getting a number of chances.

A penalty in front of the net led to a Pembroke goal which was quickly followed up by another one. The Rangers didn’t give up and Mathieu White put one home on a nice shot from the slot at the buzzer, sending both teams to the locking room with a 2-1 score.

During the second, the Lumberkings added another goal but not without witnessing the amazing hitting abilities of Rangers defenseman Jordan Fequet. The assistant captain threw his weight around during the entire game when Lumberkings forwards attempted to penetrate the Rangers zone.

In the third, the Lumberkings sealed it adding another three, including two on the powerplay where they went three for seven in the game.

Michael McMurtry scored for the Rangers with a sniped shot low to the stick-side, assisted by Brett Varrin. His 18 points through 16 games lead the Rangers and put him 11th in the CCHL in points. One scout present on Friday commented that he might be the best player in the league this year.

On Sunday, a great crowd of Rangers fans went down to Navan where their team took on the Cumberland Grads. Unfortunately, the Rangers weren’t able to pull out a win against the suddenly surging Grads as they had earlier in the season.

The Rangers’ problems started early when a delay of game penalty three minutes into the game lead to a Cumberland powerplay goal. After one period, the score was 2-0 for Cumberland.

Midway through the second, Cumberland added to their lead with a 4-0 score leading to a frustrated Gunnar Rivers being pulled from the Gloucester net which fired up the team.

Former Grad Eric Witzel scored with assists from Daniele Disipio and Miguel Laurin making the score 4-1 at that point and giving the team some momentum. A couple more goals from the Grads put the game out of reach. The Rangers penalty kill had a tough time letting in three goals on six opportunities.

The Rangers had many chances to score which missed by inches, continuing a string of bad bounces which the hockey gods continue sending to the team.

The Rangers came out hard in the first period outplaying the Stallions and coming out of the period with a 2-1 lead. A couple of bad bounces in the second period found their way into the Gloucester net as the teams were tied 3-3 heading into the final frame.

Then, a quick play on a shorthanded rush saw the puck fly through the net and the Kanata bench cheered as play went on. When the whistle was finally blown, officials decided to discuss what happened and rewarded the Stallions with their first lead of the game.

Gloucester tried to put the play past them, but Kanata didn’t look back, scoring their first win of the season.

The Rangers took their act to Pembroke to play the national champions on Sunday night resulting in a 4-1 loss and goalie Jimmy Harrison getting peppered with 53 shots.

Though the Lumber Kings started the season off with two losses at the CCHL showcase weekend, they have stormed back and now sit atop the Yzerman Division.

On September 29 the Rangers will take on the league leading Cornwall Colts, who have yet to lose this season.

The Cumberland Grads gave the Colts a scare on Sunday afternoon taking them to a shootout before the Colts were able to win 3-2. Cumberland cooled the Colts powerplay and managed to score only the second powerplay goal against them so far this season.

The Rangers are home in their Friday night slot at Earl Armstrong where they play the Nepean Raiders for the first time this season. On Sunday, they take a trip down the Old Highway 17 to Hawkesbury to face off against the Hawks.