Kitchener Sweeps Season Series Beating Sarnia 7-3
By Carl Chimenti
The Kitchener Rangers had five players with multiple points as they beat the Sarnia Sting 7-3, Friday night, at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. The Rangers swept the season series from the Sting as they clinched a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Carson Rehkopf (Seattle Kraken) had a six-point night, that included two goals and is just three goals short from becoming the first player in the OHL to reach 50 this season. Rehkopf was selected as the first star. Matthew Sop was named the second star with a pair of goals and an assist. Hunter Brzustewicz (Calgary Flames) was the third star with two helpers. Felip Mesar (Montreal Canadiens) contributed a goal and two assists and Trent Swick had a goal and an assist for the Rangers.
Sarnia scored once in each period with Cooper Way scoring his ninth of the year late in the third period. Carson Hall fell one assist short of the Gordie Howe hat-trick with his fifth of the year and a second period fight. Marko Sikic, hit a personal milestone in his home town, scoring his season high 14th goal, one better from his previous high of 13 goals last season. Adding single assists were Tyson Doucette, Mitch Young and Zach Filak.
Nick Surzycia was under siege all night, making 41saves. Kitchener out-shot Sarnia 48-32.
The Sting failed to click on their only power-play while the Rangers went 2/3. The opening period featured a very slow pace to start, but the action heated up as both teams scored once and had a number of scoring chances. The Rangers had the only power-play and they capitalized as Swick scored from Mesar and Rehkopf at 12:01. Sarnia was the recipient of a terrible Rangers turn-over that ended up on the stick of Hall and he buried the gift, beating goaltender Jackson Parsons on his glove side. The equalizer was unassisted and came 26 seconds after the Rangers goal at 12:27. Surzycia was sharp as he made a number of ten-bell saves on Brzustewicz, Simon Motew and Eduard Sale (Seattle Kraken). Kitchener out-shot Sarnia 14-11.
The Sting went ahead early in the second period at 2:12. Doucette came up with a Kitchener turn-over and he got the puck to Young, who carried it into the Ranger zone and then sent a perfect cross-ice pass to Sikic and he made no mistake scoring on the glove side of Parsons. Shortly after, the Rangers took over the game, scoring three unanswered goals and left the ice leading 4-2 after forty minutes.
The first two Ranger goals came on a pair of two-on-one situations. Matthew Sop finished off the first one at 8:59 with Rehkopf and Matthew Andonovski (Ottawa Senators) assisting. Rehkopf scored on the second odd man rush with Brzustewicz drawing the only assist. Mesar scored at 16:01, with the second power-play goal for the Rangers. Rehkopf and Brzustewicz assisted on the goal. The Rangers out-shot the Sting 19-7.
