Game Day Video Preview: Rangers host Hamilton Friday at The Aud
Kitchener, Ont. – The Blueshirts look to bounce back into the win column Friday when the club hosts the Hamilton Bulldogs for the only time at The Aud this season. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. and great seats are available here.
Notable Links:
- Tickets: Buy Online | (519) 578-1570
- TV: Rogers TV, cable 20 (Kitchener)
- TV: Super Sports Pack, cable 471 (Ontario)
- Video Stream: OHLLive.com | CHL App
- Radio: CityNews 570 AM CKGL
- Live Stats
- Live Tweets
- Game Video Preview
- Media Notes Packet
- Lines
- Digital East Avenue Blue Magazine
Promotions:
The Rangers have partnered with Canadian Mental Health Association, Waterloo Wellington for a mental health awareness game Friday, presented by Syngenta and Grain Farmers of Ontario. The game day experience will have several features to promote the importance of mental health, including a CMHA-run kiosk on the concourse where fans can learn more about mental health and the organization’s community-based service, a ceremonial puck drop and photo opportunity with CMHA Waterloo Wellington, videos featuring Rangers players talking about the importance of mental health, public service announcements about mental health and CMHA Waterloo Wellington. (More Info)
Head-to-Head:
This is the first matchup between these two clubs at The Aud since Dec. 13, 2019. Kitchener came away with a 9-6 victory in that game. The Rangers also swept the season series that year winning the reverse fixture 7-6. Kitchener is 6-4-0-0 over the last five seasons against the Bulldogs and are 4-1-0-0 at The Aud.
Kitchener is 5-5-0-0 in their last ten games and are coming off a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the London Knights Wednesday night. Denver Barkey of the London Knights scored with 32 seconds remaining in regulation to steal points from the Rangers.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 6-0 win over the Niagara IceDogs Tuesday night. Hamilton is now 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games and are sitting in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference with 50 points, three points out of the fourth seed.
Kitchener has the 13th-best power-play at 21.4% and 11th-best penalty kill at 78.2%. Hamilton owns the sixth-best power-play percentage at 22.6% and is 15th on the penalty kill at 76.2%.
Scouting the Rangers:
Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings) got himself back on the scoresheet after being held pointless in Guelph on Sunday. Pinelli responded with four assists in Wednesday’s game in London and is now up to 64 points (30G 34A) in just 40 games. Pinelli is averaging 1.6 points per game and that ranks fourth highest in the league.
Defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz continued to supply offense from the Kitchener blueline Wednesday night as he extended his point streak to four games. Brzustewicz has one goal and six assists on the current streak. He has hit the 40-point mark now this season with four goals and 36 helpers. He ranks in the top-15 in points and top-four in assists by a defenceman this season.
Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens) had himself quite the game Wednesday recording his fourth two-goal game of his early OHL career. Mešár is now up to 31 points (14G 17A) in 32 games for Kitchener this season.
Former Hamilton Bulldog Marco Costantini has played the majority of games between the pipes for the Rangers this season. Costantini was the starting netminder for Hamilton a season ago where we played a key role in leading the Bulldogs to an OHL Championship and played in all five games of the CHL Memorial Cup, including the championship game. This season, he holds a 3.57 GAA and a .889 SAV% in 32 games with the Rangers.
Francesco Arcuri (Dallas Stars), Tomáš Hamara (Ottawa Senators), Filip Mešár (Montréal Canadiens), Francesco Pinelli (Los Angeles Kings), Roman Schmidt (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Danny Zhilkin are six Kitchener skaters that are both drafted, and signed, by their NHL clubs respectively.
Scouting the Bulldogs:
The first line for Hamilton consisting of Nick Lardis, Sahil Panwar and Patrick Thomas have had the majority of success lately as they combined for eight points in Hamilton’s routing of Niagara on Tuesday night. Both Lardis and Panwar were acquired by Hamilton in a trade with the Peterborough Petes this season. All three forwards on the line currently own active point streaks. Panwar has points in eight straight games and Thomas has points in seven-straight.
Lardis shares the lead in points this season for the Bulldogs with Thomas, both having 43 points. Lardis is the only skater to crack the 20-goal mark this season and leads the club with 25. He has the second longest active point streak in the league this season with points in 10 straight games. On this current streak, he has 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points, averaging over two points per game.
Jorian Donovan (Ottawa Senators) leads the Hamilton blueline with 42 points (11G 31A) in 46 games. Donovan’s assists lead the team with 31. He also ranks in the top ten in assists by defencemen in the OHL this year. Donovan also has points in four straight games accumulating one goal and seven asssits in that time.
In net, Matteo Drobas has played the majority of games for the Bulldogs. Drobac has a 3.40 GAA and a .891 SAV% in 32 games this season.
Jorian Donovan (Ottawa Senators) and Artem Grushnikov (Dallas Stars) are the two Hamilton skaters that are drafted by their NHL clubs respectively.
Broadcast Coverage:
Friday night’s contest will be televised live throughout Kitchener and the Waterloo Region on Rogers TV, cable channel 20. In addition, the contest can be watched across the province of Ontario on the Super Sports Pack on channel 471 for cable subscribers. Jason Hagholm (play-by-play), Dan Polischuk (colour commentary) and Sean Furfaro (host) will call the game on television.
The game will be streamed live online in a web browser at OHLLive.com, and on the CHL App for mobile devices including smart TV’s such as including Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire.
Additionally, fans can listen to the game on the radio on CityNews 570 AM CKGL. Mike Farwell (play-by-play) and Chris Pope (colour commentary) will call the game on the radio. Fans can tune in to the radio pregame show 30 minutes prior to puck drop and can be a part of the broadcast with extended postgame shows as Farwell takes phone calls from Rangers Nation after all home games at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Fans can call 519-570-2545 during the radio postgame shows to talk Rangers Hockey.
Next Up:
The Rangers finish up the week with a Saturday night visit to Barrie at the Sadlon Arena. This is the final matchup between these two clubs this season. Puck drop is set for 7p.m.
Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton / Kitchener Rangers
For inquiries, contact:
Dominic Hennig
Senior Director, Broadcasting, Communications & Hockey Operations
Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club
519-497-9342
[email protected]
