Former players discuss Storm – Rangers rivalry
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury – It didn’t take Andrew Long very long to realize the level of the rivalry between the Kitchener Rangers and Guelph Storm.
As a rookie member of the Storm in 1994, Long ended up in a line brawl in his second Ontario Hockey League game against the team’s Highway 7 rivals.
He recalled the story Monday in London during Fan Fest activities at this year’s Memorial Cup. One of the events during the free Fan Fest is the Rivals series: a panel discussion featuring former players from teams known for having a great OHL rivalry. The event is held in the Hockey Hall of Fame display tent adjacent Budweiser Gardens. Another night featured former and current Peterborough Petes and Oshawa Generals players.
“I really had no idea about the Kitchener-Guelph rivalry and how deep it was,” Long, a Toronto native, said. “My grandparents and family were all down for the game and on my second shift Chris Hajt got hit from behind and within about 10 seconds it was a full-on brawl between both benches and the goalies at centre ice. It was the only suspension I ever received.”
Long learned that night that any time you played Kitchener, anything could happen.
“We didn’t have our toughest guys on the ice at the time. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t enjoyable whatsoever,” Long said.
The Kitchener-Guelph panel discussion featured former Storm players Long, Tyler Carroll and Brandon Buck. Ex-Rangers on stage were Ben Fanelli and Matt Pepe. The talk was hosted by Storm in-game announcer Paul Osborne and Kitchener radio colour announcer Mike Farwell.
Carroll is best remembered in Kitchener as supplying one of the rivalry’s most memorable moments and perhaps the only time a Guelph Storm player has ever received a standing ovation from Rangers fans when he blocked three consecutive shots during a Storm penalty kill one night.
