Match-up preview: Rangers vs Otters
Going into their third game of the season the Kitchener Rangers are a perfect 2-0-0-0, after defeating the Saginaw Spirit 5-2 and the Guelph Storm 6-4 in week one.
Tonight's match-up is against the 1-2- 0-0 Erie Otters, who earned a 5-1 win over the Brampton Battalion but fell to the Saginaw Spirit 3-2 and the Niagara IceDogs on Thursday 5-4.
No captain has been appointed yet on the Rangers squad, but forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Jason Akeson and Matthew Tipoff have been sporting "A's on their jerseys.
The trio will wear their letters until the team has a more clear idea of what to expect from players such as Jeff Skinner and Jeremy Morin, who are still with their NHL teams.
50-goal scorer Jeff Skinner is with the Carolina Hurricanes, while Morin is with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Otters have named Leafs prospect Greg McKegg as their captain. McKegg is coming off of a 67-point improvement season from 2008-2009 to last year - the best in the OHL.
The former first round centreman will be joined by alternate captains Mike Cazzola, Derek Holden and Shawn Szydlowski.
Szydlowski is an overaged right-winger who had 48 points last season, while Cazzola was the team's leading scorer with 86 points - 36 goals and 50 assists. So far this season he's collected two goals and three assists for five points in three games. Holden joined the Otters mid-way through last year in a trade from Peterborough. He led Otters' defencemen with 11 goals.
The blueline will be strong for Erie with experienced names such as Mitch Gaulton, Brett Cook, David Shields, Tyler Hostetter, and highly regarded prospect Adam Pelech.
Minding the net will be Russian born Ramis Sadikov against Rangers' own Brandon Maxwell. In 25 games played in the 2009-2010 season, Sadikov averaged 4.02 goals against average with a 0.89 save percentage. Maxwell had a 0.901 save percentage and 3.73 goals against in 41 games played.
After two games in the 2010-2011 season, German-import Tobias Rieder leads the Rangers with five points - two goals and three assists, while defenceman Ryan Murphy has four points - a pair of goals and assists.
Swedish sensation Gabriel Landeskog also has four points - three goals and an assist, including his hat trick against Saginaw.
With the efforts of Landeskog among others, the Rangers will look to continue their perfect season tonight on the “road to the rafters”, as head coach Steve Spott has coined the motto for the season.
