Parkland squad battles hard against second-place Cougars
The Parkland Rangers and Southwest Cougars shared the spoils in a home and home series this weekend with both teams prevailing on home ice. The Rangers rode the offence to a 7-4 win on Friday night in Dauphin before Chase Glover and the penalty-killing unit pushed the Cougars to the brink in a 3-1 loss on Sunday in Souris.
Friday night at the CUP saw the opening game of the weekend series get off to a blistering start. Having played one another only two weeks ago, there was no need for a ‘feeling-out’ process in the game as both teams came out of the gate quickly. Ultimately it was the Rangers Ryzlie Nepinak who capitalized on a Cougar miscue to bang home the opening goal of the weekend just 2:18 into the game. Nepinak’s marker held up for eight minutes until Cougars captain Kelby Diehl scored his first of three goals on the night to level the score after one period. The middle frame was packed with action, beginning with Cash McCallum’s second of the season. McCallum grabbed a rebound off Cougars goalie Micky Gross pads and calmly stepped around the prone tender to slide the puck into the open cage. Cam Sarna and Sam Swanton picked up assists on the goal at 3:52 of the period. The Rangers weren’t done yet though, Maddox Shindle was next on the scoresheet when he took a cross ice pass from Cade Legaarden and wired one through Gross to extend the home team’s lead to two goals. Ethan McMullan picked up the secondary assist on the power play tally. The two goal lead was halved just 25 seconds later though when Jack Clark scored for the Cougars and three minutes later, Diehl had tied it up with his second goal. With the scores even at three and the outcome of the game very much hanging in the balance, Cam Sarna stepped up and scored his eighth goal of the season to stake the Rangers to a 4-3 lead heading into the final frame. Hayden Seib and Nepinak picked up the assists on the play. The Rangers rode the momentum of Sarna’s big goal into the third and Shindle got his second of the night just thirty seconds after the restart. Shindle’s shot bounced past Gross after some slick puck movement by the Rangers power play. McMullan and Legaarden picked up assists on the goal. The 5-3 lead was halved at 3:21 of the third when Diehl found a rebound and scored his third of the night. The Cougars pushed hard to find an equalizer, but Quinten Fisk won a puck battle with two Cougars and centred the puck to Seib who snapped it over Gross’ pad to extend the lead to 6-4 with 12:50 left to play. Southwest continued to look for a way back in the game, but Sarna put an end to the drama when he scored his second of the game. Tavyn Boychuk made a scintillating rush to set Sarna up after an excellent shift full of second efforts by the Rangers forwards. Glover made the 7-4 lead stand up for the remainder of the game, finishing with 44 saves. The Rangers penalty kill was a perfect 4/4 on the night and the power play went 2/3 in an impressive all-around performance.
Saturday night was a different type of game as the teams reconvened in Souris. Right off the opening face-off the Cougars looked hungry and they pushed the pace in their home rink. The Rangers got off to a solid start but a Cougars power play tally four minutes in gave the home team their first lead of the weekend. Seib got the Rangers back to level terms just two minutes later however when he snapped home a loose puck on a broken play. Fisk picked up the assist on the goal. The second period was a hard, physical twenty minutes with both sides understanding the importance of the two points. Neither side could find a breakthrough despite a rash of penalties and some quality scoring chances. The home team started to control the play as the period wore on and the Rangers were forced to spend most of the final six minutes short handed. Glover made a series of spectacular saves during a two-minute long 5-on-3 to end the frame. The Rangers found themselves short-handed again early in the third and Glover was once again the hero as he turned aside a barrage of shots from the Southwest snipers. With 12:01 gone in the third, the Rangers found themselves with a man advantage but despite a number of excellent opportunities, they were unable to break the deadlock and ramp up the pressure on the hosts. Finally, with 5:23 left to play the Rangers resistance was broken when Jackson Hofer swept in a loose puck at the side of the goal to stake the Cougars to a narrow 2-1 lead. The Rangers didn’t quit and came agonizingly close to equalizing on the next shift when they rang one off the post. They continued to push and created several grade ‘A’ opportunities but couldn’t quite find paydirt. With two minutes left to play, the Cougars salted away the win with a Jack Clark goal. Glover was outstanding in making 44 saves in the loss while the Rangers managed 20 at the Cougars goal. The Rangers power play was 0/4 on the night while the penalty kill unit was a robust 7/8.
Rangers ramblings: The two point weekend leaves the Rangers stuck in 10th place in the Manitoba U18 AAA standings at 11-16-3. They are five points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand on the Norman North Stars. The Rangers will visit Thompson this weekend for a pair of games with Norman… Parkland’s next action is Tuesday night when they host the 31-0-1 Brandon Wheat Kings. The Wheat Kings are currently riding a club record 19 game winning streak… Former Ranger Skyler Carriere recently scored his first VIJHL goal for the Oceanside Generals… Ranger alum Madden Murray scored twice for the Dauphin Kings in their 6-0 demolition of the Niverville Nighthawks in MJHL action this weekend… Parkland graduate Luke Decorby scored once and had two assists as his Red Lake Miners took two games out of three against the defending SIJHL champions Kam River Fighting Walleye. Decorby, the Miners captain has 30 points in 32 games this season…