Don't Look Now

Two weeks ago I wrote about Ryan Murphy getting hit by Tom Kuhnackl, and how this would be a huge blow to the Kitchener Rangers... What was I thinking? The team has now won 5 straight, and are 8-1-1 in there last 10. Anyone seen the Midwest division standings lately? The boys in blue are only 4 points back of the mighty London Knights, a team they beat in a shoot out not too long ago.

So what's going on here? Has it been a lull in the schedule, playing only weak teams? Sarnia, Guelph, Erie, Oshawa and Sudbury (in no particular order) all fell victim to the Rangers over the last 5 games. Those teams, With the exception of Sarnia, are at the lower ends of their respective divisions, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad teams. Regardless, the Rangers should have had 8 out of 10 points easy, and they got all 10. That's impressive. So whats with this sudden surge?

Look no further than John Gibson, Radek Faksa, Tobias Rieder and Zach Lorentz. Why Lorentz? As the kids say, he's got mad shoot out skillz bro. He came in to camp determined to be a better player and he has improved over last season, and he's continuing to get better.

Gibson has been incredible between the pipes, and Rieder and Faksa seem to score on almost every shot lately.

So far in the Month of November, Gibby has a 2.17 GAA and 0.941 Save percentage. When was the last time a Rangers net minder had those stats? Steve Mason? The guy is stopping and blocking almost everything out there and impressing everyone around the rink. He proved it even more on Thursday against Sarnia, when he outplayed former Rangers tender Brandon Maxwell. Maxx got pulled in that game after allowing 3 goals, while Gibon only allowed 2 goals on 40 shots.

Faksa has 9 points in seven games so far this month, good enough to get him placed on the top 5 of the OHL's Preliminary draft list for the upcoming NHL draft this summer. It seems he's found his stride in this country and is on his way to a great season.

The other import playing on East Ave, Tobias Rieder, has 10 points in the last 7 games including A three point night last night against Erie. In his sophomore season in Kitchener, Rieder has really stepped his game up and impressed all the fans in Kitchener. I'm sure there's a few scouts in Edmonton who are quite happy too.

The return of Captainacci (Rangers captain Michael Cattenaci) has been great as well. In his two games back the captain has 5 points including 4 last night against Erie. Hopefully this team can start getting healthy soon and we'll get Creszenci and Murphy back soon (and maybe McEnemy for the playoffs).

One more topic of note, City Council approved the expansion the the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, so at this time next year there will be an additional 1000 seats plus all new media boxes (more leg room for people 6ft tall maybe?) and private boxes. It only took 2 months to get this approved. Maybe Niagara's city council should pick up the slack too?

Time for Leaders to Emerge

*please note, this post was written prior to the Rangers game against the Otters on friday night*

Who exactly is leading the Kitchener Rangers right now?

Overall, the team isn't doing bad. Middle of the pack, a little over .500, exactly what was expected of them. But in Kitchener, that isn't a very good excuse. It was expected that Matia Marcantuoni would have an explosive season, leading the team in points and showing that he's worthy of a first round pick come June. Ryan Murphy was supposed to come back from Carolina and show everyone how to run a power play. Looking shortly after training camp, a lot of people expected a very strong defensive core which includes Ben Fanelli, the aforementioned Murphy, Winnipeg Jets property Cody Sol and Julian Melchiori, Max Iafrate, Evan McEnemy, as well as promising rookies Cory Genovese and Jared Gilbert. So what's wrong?

Well firstly, McEnemy is out for the season after an injury earlier this month in Saginaw. That's a huge blow to the Rangers after he started out so strong. Secondly, Murphy, who was expected to lead the OHL in points by a defenseman currently sits 42nd amongst OHL blue liners. Obviously he needs to step his game up. Critics have long said that Murphy takes too many risks and doesn't pass enough. We have seen a bit of evidence of that this season. Murph likes to skate the puck and move quickly. He's constantly thinking shot when he should start thinking pass a little more often. He's also had quite a bit of pure bad luck around the net this season, missing a couple glorious opportunities on Tuesday against London. On a brighter note for Murph, he was selected to team OHL to play against the Russians in the Subway super series. The game will surely be a test for him as he tries to crack Canada's world junior squad in December. Surely all of this is something Murph is already very much aware of and is definitely trying to get better.

The second issue i've seen is with Marcantuoni. MM was touted as being very improved over last season but hasn't really shown much in that department. In 8 games played this season he only has 3 points and is a minus 1. He missed a few games early on with a concussion, and unfortunately for him he has struggled in the past with injuries. But if he wants to make a strong impression with NHL clubs this year, he's going to have to step it up and start putting pucks in the net. The fans in Rangers Nation won't put up with poor play, from someone who's supposed to be amazing, for very long. Just ask Brandon Maxwell.

Hopefully these 2 guys have woken up through out the week and step it up against the Otters this weekend. On a positive note, Captain Cat (Michael Cattenaci) has been showing signs of improvement and will hopefully be back with the team soon. Cat suffered a concussion two weeks ago against the Owen Sound Attack. Having him back in the lineup will help this team immensely, as he is the smallest guy with the biggest heart in the OHL.