Rangers in seventh heaven

By Aaron Bell

For the Kitchener Rangers, it was worth the wait.

After cruising to the Ontario Hockey League’s best regular season record and then scorching through the first three rounds of the playoffs with just one loss, the Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Belleville Bulls and looked like the OHL championship was easily within reach. But after giving up a three-goal lead and losing Game 4 in overtime and then watching the Bulls tie the series with wins in Game 5 in Kitchener and Game 6 in Belleville, the Rangers came perilously close to letting it slip through their fingers.

Fortunately for the Rangers, their hard work through the regular season gave them home ice advantage throughout the playoffs and the right to host Game 7. They put up a 4-1 win over the Bulls on Monday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium to clinch the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL champions.

“It’s all about the journey,” Rangers’ coach and GM Peter DeBoer said. “I told the guys yesterday in practice that everything happens for a reason. I really believe that if we had swept this it wouldn’t be nearly as memorable as it is. I’m not sure I wanted to go through that but it was something that they will remember for the rest of their lives and it’s well deserved.”

DeBoer said that even though the Bulls made a series out of it, his group remained confident that they would finish the season as OHL champions.

“We had one bad period in this series,” DeBoer said about the letdown in Game 4. “I have to take my hat off to Belleville. In Game 5 and Game 6, they played great. Their goalie was great and they played real well. They gave us everything we could handle. We just buried our chances and we took advantage of home ice. There is no doubt the 7,000 people in here tonight made the difference.”

Brandon Mashinter opened the scoring late in the first period before Nick Spaling scored what proved to be the game-winner on a powerplay early in the second. Shawn Matthias returned to the Bulls’ lineup for the first time in the playoffs and put them on the board with a powerplay marker later in the third period but Nazem Kadri and Mike Duco scored in the third to clinch the win.

Justin Azevedo picked up an assist in the win and won the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as the MVP of the OHL playoffs as selected by the media covering the final series.

Bulls’ goaltender Mike Murphy was busy stopping 47 of 50 shots while Josh Unice made 26 saves for Kitchener in the win.

“I thought all four lines came out and I thought we just tried to stick to our systems,” said Duco, who scored four of his 16 playoff goals in the Championship Series. “They played a great game and a great series. Murphy kept them in that entire time but we just wanted to come out and give it our all and that’s what we did tonight.”

Despite Belleville’s remarkable comeback, Duco said that his team never lost faith that they could win the series.

“We had a lot of confidence in this room,” Duco said. “Losing those three games was kind of tough but we regrouped yesterday, we all talked and we came out and gave it our all. I think they were out-battling us those last three games. We weren’t sticking to our systems. We just got the puck in deep and worked our forecheck.”

For the Bulls, it was a disappointing end to what was shaping up as a fairy tale run. They had a large contingent of fans that made the three-hour trek to Kitchener for the deciding game hoping to see the first team win the championship after losing the first three games of the series.

“It wasn’t our best at all,” said Bulls’ captain Matt Beleskey. “We got away from our game plan. We weren’t working down low, we weren’t hitting as much and I’m not sure why. It was a good comeback but I really wish we could have come out with a better outcome tonight.”

The Rangers won’t get much of a chance to celebrate the win. They are hosting the 2008 MasterCard Memorial Cup and face the QMJHL champion Gatineau Olympiques in the opening game on Friday. The Belleville Bulls get a second life when they start the tournament against the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs on Saturday.

The Rangers goal all season was to go into the tournament as OHL champions and have set their sights on winning the Memorial Cup for the second time in the past six years.

“I told the guys that this is nice and well deserved and enjoy it tonight, but we’ve got some more business to take care of and that’s the big one next week,” DeBoer said.

Photo: Aaron Bell / OHL