The rivalry remains
Just in case you thought the more heated Kitchener-London rivalry had rendered the Kitchener-Guelph rivalry old and tired, we got a sample of just how much these teams dislike each other this afternoon. Coach Spott told us after the game that there was some “bad blood” out there and you could feel it.
Not sure what happened in the second but, if you take that 20 minutes away, Kitchener held a 6-1 edge in this one. Sometimes you get caught up in the rivalry, I guess.
On the bright side, it set up the Tobias Rieder heroics. I think we’ll keep him. What a shot he fired off from just inside the blueline to bring the Rangers back within one! And while he doesn’t wear skates and a jersey, you have to give Spott a lot of credit for the timeout he called. It’s not often a coach’s timeout works quite so well but the Rangers were trying to find a powerplay groove and they did after that 30-second pep talk. Four unanswered goals in the 3rd and the outcome wasn’t really in doubt by the late going.
Nice to see Murphy get his first two goals and I think Doornbosch looks very comfortable in Kitchener’s system already. If he keeps this up, he’ll dust his 12 goal, 38 assist performance from a season ago (he was 1G, 2A today).
Ya know, the way Rieder and Landeskog are playing, it makes you miss Skinner and Morin just a little bit less, eh? Just a little bit anyway.
I want to say a quick hello to “Mr. X” (name withheld to protect the innocent) who stopped me to chat before the game today. A Guelph resident who’s been a Rangers fan since 1981. He’s currently a season ticket holder. From Guelph! That’s why I’m keeping his name a secret. Such a nice man doesn’t deserve to have his house egged by angry Storm fans.
Another hello to the Ranger fan that made the trip to Guelph (looking quite spiffy in that Rangers jersey, too) and yelled down some encouragement while I was waiting for the players to come out for a postgame chat. It’s always nice to see friendly faces!
And finally, to Sandra, our most recent commentator on this blog. You bet we’ll check how to pronounce Zach Lorentz’ name! We take it very seriously, too. I know on my end, I’m deferring to the pronunciation of the Kitchener city councillor with the same last name. While we’re at it, we’ll work on Marcantouoni. Matia’s last name has been the subject of much discussion over the weekend.
Hey, here’s something you’ve probably heard but I wanted to point out again. Kitchener’s 11 goals so far this season are worth more than just 4 points in the win column. They’re also worth $165 for Cystic Fibrosis! The Libro Financial Group is donating $15 to CF for every goal the Rangers score this season. Gabriel Landeskog raised us $45 on Friday night alone! I’ll update the tally on here from time to time. It’s a really cool partnership with Libro and we’re thrilled that they’re along for the ride this season. Keep scoring those goals, Kitchener!
