Bracco nets pair of assists in loss to Storm
“Some nights you have it, some nights you don’t.”
Frank Hora was concise in a post-game interview Sunday, but it didn’t take much more than that to aptly sum up the afternoon for the Kitchener Rangers (26-6-4-0) who fell 7-3 to the Guelph Storm (5-28-3-0) in front of 4,529 fans at the Sleeman Centre.
Alternatively, some nights really do go your way, as has been the case for the Storm – not just today – but since the hiring of new head coach Jarrod Skalde.
In the Storm’s past six games they are 3-1-2-0, and have collected eight of a possible 12 points. Three teams they faced during that span are teams ranked in the BMO CHL Top-10 Rankings (Erie, London, Kitchener).
Playing their fourth game in five and a half days, the Rangers got off on the wrong foot on Sunday afternoon as Guelph stormed out of the gate to take an early 3-0 first period lead in which Kitchener was never able to completely rebound from.
Dawson Carty started the afternoon in goal for the Blueshirts but was replaced by Luke Richardson following the Storm’s third goal. Carty faced eight shots, while Richardson (2-3-1-0) was tagged with three goals on 13 shots and was saddled with the loss.
Michael Giugovaz (7-6-4-0) earned the win in goal for the Storm, stopping all but three of Kitchener’s 46 shots.
Head coach Mike Van Ryn said post-game that while the team’s effort wasn’t up to their capabilities in the first period, he thought they managed to show some resiliency but just failed to execute on some offensive chances.
“We only gave up 22 shots, so I don’t think [Guelph] had that many scoring chances. We just didn’t capitalize on ours,” Van Ryn said. “I don’t think we played well in the first, but then in the second I thought we really got it going.”
Defenceman Brian Brosnan left the game due to injury in the second period and the Rangers bench boss said it ultimately became a turning point in the game.
“Unfortunately on the play Brosnan got hurt on, we had to deal with an odd-man rush against and they capitalized. At that point the tides really started to turn.
“It was 3-2, then that goal against made it 4-2, it took a little bit of the wind out of our sails. I thought our guys worked hard, but once again it just comes down to attention to detail for the full 60 minutes.”
Guelph’s first goal came at 7:20 by Jake Bricknell, assisted by Liam Stevens and Austin Hall. The Storm would capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play to take a 2-0 lead on a goal by Givani Smith, from Jacob Harris and Garrett McFadden at 15:58. James McEwan’s first goal of the game was a shorthanded marker, from Harris, at 18:29, sending the Rangers to the dressing room trailing 3-0 in the first intermission.
The Rangers responded well to start the second as Mason Kohn made it 3-1 just 4:27 in, from Jeremy Bracco and Dylan Di Perna. They would come to within one just under three and a half minutes later as Jake Henderson beat Giugovaz at 7:55 to make it 3-2 from Doug Blaisdell and Adam Mascherin. The assist for Mascherin extends his point streak to eleven games, dating back to November 29th.
McEwan’s second goal of the afternoon made it 4-2 Guelph, assisted by Smith at 10:05, but the Rangers continued to press as Nick Magyar again brought the Blueshirts to within a goal at 17:22, from Hora and Bracco.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Storm were also pressing, as they would answer back with a goal of their own just ten seconds later – Smith’s second of the game – from Matthew Hotchkiss and Noah Carroll at 17:32. Shots were 31-13 in favour of the Rangers through 40 minutes of play, including 18-5 in the second period.
The Storm succeeded in shutting down any further offense by the Rangers, but added two more goals of their own in the third. McEwan completed the hat trick at 17:06 from Harris and C.J. Garcia, then Luke Burghardt registered an empty net goal, from Garcia, at 18:17 to finalize the game’s scoring.
Final shots were 46-22 Kitchener.
The Storm would finish going 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Rangers were shut down on their three opportunities with the man advantage.
Smith (3), McEwan (2) and Giugovaz (1) were chosen as the Three Stars of the Game.
Brosnan, Hora and Brandon Robinson each wore ‘A’s and skated as alternate captains for the game.
The Rangers will get a bit of reprieve before returning to action at the Aud next Friday, January 8th when they host the Hamilton Bulldogs for the one and only time this season.
Tickets for the Rangers next home game, or any other future Rangers home games are available online at kitchenerrangers.com, by calling Centre in the Square, or through The Aud Box Office.
