Parkland rides goaltending and penalty-killing to road victory
The Parkland Rangers made the trek to Shoal Lake on Tuesday night for a showdown with the Yellowhead Chiefs and claimed a 3-2 shootout win thanks to Chase Glover and Tavyn Boychuk’s heroics. Boychuk scored the only goal of the shootout and Glover stopped all three Chiefs shooters to earn the Rangers a key road win. Glover managed 25 saves on the night and saved his best for the game deciding skills competition.
The evening started smoothly for the visitors as they fired 10 shots on Chiefs goalie Connor Rapley in the opening frame. Cash Clarkson opened the scoring for the Rangers six minutes into the game when he ripped a shot by Rapley’s blocker after stellar work by Cam Sarna and Ethan Carnegie on the cycle. The goal was Clarkson’s team leading 11th of the campaign. Parkland extended their lead late in the second period when Maddox Shindle took a Hayden Seib pass and snapped a shot over Rapley’s glove. Cade Legaarden picked up the second assist on Shindle’s power play tally. The lead was immediately cut in half only eleven seconds later when Chiefs captain Max Collyer banged home a loose puck from the side of Glover’s cage. The period ended with the Rangers up 2-1 having killed off six penalties in the middle frame. Period three started with a bang for Yellowhead thanks to Collyer’s second goal of the game just over a minute in. That would prove to be the final goal either goalie would allow and extra time settled nothing, despite a Collyer breakaway late in the extra frame.
Rangers Ramblings: The win improved the Rangers record to 6-8-3, good for 13 points. They presently sit one point adrift of the final playoff spot in the MU18AAA League… Parkland plays host to the high powered offense of the Winnipeg Thrashers this weekend in a pair of games. Saturday night’s contest starts at 7:30 pm and Sunday’s puck will drop at 1:30 pm…The win extended the Rangers point streak to three games… Ranger alumni Cohen Smigelsky made his 2023-24 debut with the Capital Region Junior Hockey League’s Lundar Falcons this past weekend. Smigelsky spent the 2021-22 season with the Rangers… Ryzlie Nepinak was unavailable for the Rangers on Tuesday night… Noah Smigelsky played his second game as an AP in Shoal Lake. Noah has recorded 17 points in 12 games with the U15 AAA Rangers this season…