(Posted 2:30 p.m., April 5)
Gloucester Rangers win third OEMHL ‘AA’ championship banner
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The Gloucester Rangers hockey organization will have to make room for another championship banner at the Earl Armstrong Arena after the Major Bantam AA team downed the Rideau St. Lawrence Kings 6-3 to take their first to seven points OEMHAL final series eight points to six.

Noah Bacin had a hat trick in the series clincher, while Devon Dockstaeder added a pair of goals and Chad Robillard had a single. Bacin finished the series with a team best five goals and five assists for 10 points.

Jahlen Murphy was in net for all four wins to give him a perfect 8-0 record in the playoffs.

The Rangers entered the playoffs as the fourth seed having finished the season with a record of 16-9-3. After taking five games to dispatch fifth place Seaway Valley, they faced the regular season champion Kanata Blazers in the semi-finals.

The Blazers were heavy favourites heading into the series, having gone undefeated through the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

Unfazed by the Blazers’ daunting record, the underdog Rangers pulled off a major upset in the opening game, winning 3-1 behind Murphy’s stellar goaltending.

Gloucester Rangers Major Bantam AA

After the Blazers bounced back to tie the series, the Rangers proved the first game wasn’t a fluke by beating Kanata a second time 4-3 thanks to a three goal outburst in the first three minutes and 27 seconds.

Needing a win or a tie in to clinch the first to five point series, the Rangers weren’t about to let the Blazers off the hook.

After a scoreless first period, they netted a pair in the second and were in the clearly in the driver’s seat as the third period began. Kanata got one back early in the period and then tied the game on a power play goal with 5:32 left in the game. A tie, however, was not enough. They needed to win in order to force another game.

With just under a minute left to go the Blazers pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, but the Rangers managed to weather the storm until Joshua Gervais scored with six seconds left to seal the win.

Unlike the Major Bantam squad, the Gloucester Rangers Major Midget AA team were the favourites heading into the playoffs after capturing the regular seasoon championship banner with a record of 19-4-5.

After cruising through the first round of the playoffs the Rangers found themselves in tough against a pesky and determined Cumberland Jr. Grads team which forced the first to five point series to a fifth and deciding game which the Rangers won 2-0 behind the stellar netminding of Philip Eberley.

Call-up Shawn Ennis scored the Rangers’ first goal on a shorthanded effort in the first period and Louis Nadeau added an insurance marker on the power play in the second.

After getting past the Jr. Grads, the Rangers knocked off the Eastern Ontario Cobras in five games in the final to claim the league championship banner to go along with their regular season flag. Matthew Shaheen had four goals in the final series, while Nadeau and Cameron Baker scored three apiece.

The Rangers third championship banner was won by the Major Peewee AA team which only needed five games to defeat the Ottawa Valley Titans in the final.

But before the second seeded Rangers faced the third place Titans, they had to get past the eighth place Cumberland Jr. Grads who played the giat killers in knocking off the first place Kanata Blazers in the first round of the playoffs.

The series was supposed to be a total mismatch. The Jr. Grads lost 19 games during the regular, while the Blazers had only lost just once. But Cumberland used a combination of timely scoring and excellent goaltending to win the first game 1-0. The second game ended ina 1-1 tie and then the Jr. Grads took the clincher 3-1.

Nic Hamre scored three of the Jr. Grads four goals and Aidan Ethier and Jean-François Sabourin shared the goaltending duties.

After the emotional win over Kanata, the Jr. Grads were no match for the Rangers who won the first game in their first to five point semi-final 7-0. They managed to bounce back to win the second game, but Gloucester win games three and four to advance to the final.

The Rangers were led by Mathieu Foget who had 18 points in the playoffs, including seven goals. Junau St-Germain added three power play goals, all of them in the final series and Colin Murray and Cedric Hansen split the goaltending duties.

By winning the league championship, the Rangers earned the right to play in the provincial Peewee championship which get underway on April 4.

The Rangers very nearly swept the Major AA ranks, but the Major Atom squad was unable to get past the Ottawa Valley Titans. After splitting the first two games by identical 4-0 scores, the Rangers lost the last three games by a goal each time.

Gloucester Rangers Major Midget AA

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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