Kitchener Rangers 2018 Offseason Thread

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Leafs Fan 12

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Jan 20, 2011
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The one thing I have never understood is why they continue to allow beer sales at the games - makes fans too "brave" and things are yelled out that are only due to fans being half corked. None of it is right and under the influnence is not an excuse but getting a closet bigot drunk does not help.

$$$$
 

RayzorIsDull

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Nov 16, 2007
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The one thing I have never understood is why they continue to allow beer sales at the games - makes fans too "brave" and things are yelled out that are only due to fans being half corked. None of it is right and under the influnence is not an excuse but getting a closet bigot drunk does not help.

Fans yelling racist comments has nothing to do whether beer is sold or not at a sporting event. You could have no alcohol sold and fans would still yell stupid things.
 

bobber

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Jan 21, 2013
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Kitchener Ontario
Serpa stood out today and was the player of the game for his squad. Nice little player with good edges. Not afraid to go to the front of the net to retrieve pucks. Good get by Rangers staff. Langdon looks better every time you see him along with Sbrango.
Landon is already six feet just needs to add some beef over the summer. I thought he was one of the better forwards in todays game. Never saw Windsor today but Ward mentioned he was the player of the game also. Has some grit to his game. Forgot to mention Valade. Missed his last game but Ward mentioned that he played a great game with a chip on his shoulder not backing down from any aggression.
 
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OHLFan90

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Dec 24, 2013
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Nice meeting a few of the board members today at the gold cup. Bobber and Ward. Great people. Hope to meet again soon.


Really liked what I saw from Donovan Sebrango. Did well keeping play to the outside, Decent job standing guys up at the blue line. Moves fairly well.
 
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ScoresFromCentre

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Jan 29, 2016
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I sure as heck would hope the OHL would address that part above of "hearing derogatory comments from behind the Soo bench" and Raftis had the gall to send video tape into the OHL of Smiths bird flip!

If Raftis had enough evidence to believe that one or more of his players acted in this fashion (or enough evidence to plausibly suspect as much and didn't pursue the leads), then submitting the video to the league was a moral failing on his part.

Some things are bigger than sports.
 

GeoBlue

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Oct 21, 2017
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Kitchener
One man sent a photo of Smith to his personal Facebook account with "Hockey N-----" in the caption.
He also received a death threat.
"There were threats, physical threats after Game 6," said Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie.
"Before we went up to the Soo there were racial things in his inbox on social media. It was pretty disgusting to see some of the stuff that he had to deal with."

I understand we are all upset about the racism. But this ranting only goes so far. I would like to see these posters tracked down by law enforcement and charged. Many of these feel brave as they THINK they are hiding behind aliases. But "if it is on the Internet, it can be tracked". Would love to see further action.
 

Ward Cornell

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Dec 22, 2007
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My stab in the dark for the 2018-2019 Lineup..
In no particular order for forwards and defence
Forward lines:
McHugh - Damini - Meireles
Liska - Petzian - Hugg
Tresoor - Langdon - Valade
Guest- McDonnell - Gordon
Yantsis

Defence:
Vukojevic - Gareffa
Vallati - York
Sebrango-Gentles
Hall

Goalies:
Richardson
Hasley
McBride(?)

* is it four 16 yr old skaters with a 16 yr old goalie
or a total on four 16 yr old players in a line-up
 

aresknights

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Dec 27, 2009
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london

Very interesting. Reading between the lines, lots open for interpretation.
"I can say with 100 per cent certainty, at no time did anyone from our organization, our staff or our players utter a racial slur at Givani Smith,” Hounds head coach Drew Bannister said on Sunday..
"Branch also said he had no indication Bannister was involved and spoke of how he believed it was “player to player. It’s trash-talking, which, unfortunately, can be part of the game.”
Bannister admitted as much saying insults and profanity are “unfortunately,” part of sports."

Not sure you can guarantee no one said anything in one sentence then claim that insults are part of the sport, unfortunately in the next. But OK.

No coach/staff can guarantee a kid hasn't uttered an inappropriate comment.
 

Hadoop

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Aug 13, 2002
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Just heard about this. I'm sure Smith is no saint but I'm disgusted by the fans who displayed this behaviour. Shame on the powers that be for turning a deaf ear as well, and shame on the OHL too for not taking a stronger stance.
 

Fischhaber

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Sep 3, 2014
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Very interesting. Reading between the lines, lots open for interpretation.
"I can say with 100 per cent certainty, at no time did anyone from our organization, our staff or our players utter a racial slur at Givani Smith,” Hounds head coach Drew Bannister said on Sunday..
"Branch also said he had no indication Bannister was involved and spoke of how he believed it was “player to player. It’s trash-talking, which, unfortunately, can be part of the game.”
Bannister admitted as much saying insults and profanity are “unfortunately,” part of sports."

Not sure you can guarantee no one said anything in one sentence then claim that insults are part of the sport, unfortunately in the next. But OK.

No coach/staff can guarantee a kid hasn't uttered an inappropriate comment.

It's important to note that racial slurs and insults can be two very different things and it's overwhelmingly likely that they were in this instance.

I think the disconnect here is not what was said, but how the Rangers perceived the insults as racially motivated when they probably were not.
 

aresknights

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Dec 27, 2009
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It's important to note that racial slurs and insults can be two very different things and it's overwhelmingly likely that they were in this instance.

I think the disconnect here is not what was said, but how the Rangers perceived the insults as racially motivated when they probably were not.

Overwhelmingly likely? You don't know that at all.

We have no idea if there was a disconnect from Rangers POV. Maybe the disconnect is not being able to think that "maybe" some fans or players crossed a line in SSM? Maybe they didn't and the story is made up?

You have gone to turning it on to the people that were being "insulted" for misunderstanding the insults?

Denial, turning a blind eye ect.... is part of the issue with this entire subject.
I have no idea what was said. From your post, you do know what was said or are making assumptions to defend whoevers insults were "misinterpreted"?
 
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Marj44

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Jun 17, 2015
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Maybe the disconnect is not being able to think that "maybe" some fans or players crossed a line in SSM? Maybe they didn't and the story is made up?

My issue with that is that if you read the article all 3 identities (League, Soo and Kitch) claim they never heard and were never told of any Soo player or coach using racial insults.
I’m perfectly fine with us calling out the fan(s) that did what they did, as they deserve much more than just being called out, but don’t suggest that SSM players crossed that line.

I can guarantee with 100% certainty that had any player crossed that line 2 things would have happened;
Raftis and Bannister would have suspended the player, and the Rangers would have contacted the league to have a suspension imposed (helping them in game 7).
Both parties would have gone for a suspension because that’s a line you can never cross.

It’s a fact that some fan of some team from somewhere in the world launched a pm attack on Givani and that the Rangers and Smith viewed it as racist (no reason to lie).
We don’t know who, we don’t know what team they cheer for and we don’t know where they live. Truthfully none of that matters, they’re the real pos here for going to that length.

Just don’t assume or lead into any of the Soo players crossing that line. No one would have accepted it and had it happened you would have seen a susspension. Unless you have proof that a player crossed the line don’t suggest it because that’s how you ruin the career of one of these young men.
 

Ward Cornell

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Dec 22, 2007
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It's important to note that racial slurs and insults can be two very different things and it's overwhelmingly likely that they were in this instance.

I think the disconnect here is not what was said, but how the Rangers perceived the insults as racially motivated when they probably were not.

I have no clue what was said and maybe you are correct what was said wasn't racist and that alone may not be suspendable. But when the insults and taunts are being hurled at Smith or any other minority because of their race then it is a racist taunt! We've seen it plenty of times when a black player does an offensable act on the ice the jeers and boo's are louder than it would be for another player.
 
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aresknights

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Im not saying one way of the other. Re read my post. And if you bold the entire sentence it changes the meaning.

I already said I don't know what was said.
Just responded to a post.

You 100% gauranteed a suspension by SSM if it happened and good on them if they would do so. But what if they didn't hear it?
No biggie, we agree its wrong when it does happen.
Again Im not sure what happened in this instance.
 

Mach85

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Mar 14, 2013
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I have no clue what was said and maybe you are correct what was said wasn't racist and that alone may not be suspendable. But when the insults and taunts are being hurled at Smith or any other minority because of their race then it is a racist taunt! We've seen it plenty of times when a black player does an offensable act on the ice the jeers and boo's are louder than it would be for another player.
What Ward said is important. I'm not saying what I'm about to say happened or didn't happen (none of us know if it did or not), but racism is not, and has never been, just in the form of the most overt, obvious, and clear-cut words. It's also in the form of any kind of differential treatment. Dog whistling is another example. Smith is a physical player and he plays with an edge. In playing that way, he takes penalties sometimes that you wish he wouldn't; but he's not a Sean Avery kind of player, a Matt Cooke, or a Brad Marchand licking players. In other words, he's the kind of player that other teams are worried about and other fans don't like playing against (maybe like a Jacob Friend on Owen Sound), but he's not the kind of player who crosses the line constantly and is despised.

We have a Guelph fan on this very board who said they don't recall him crossing the line more than other players, and this fan watched him for years. So I'm confident my evaluation is fair. Therefore, if Smith was subject to insults at a much higher rate or to greater severity than other players...let's read between the lines. It's a way to express racism while still having plausible deniability. Sometimes these people can even fool themselves into believing they're not being racist.

An NHL comparable is Evander Kane. Kane gets grief all the time for being immature and his off-ice behaviour. Yet Patrick Kane had quite a few off-ice incidents, one that was similar in scope to Evander's, and you don't hear a peep about him. One is black and one is white. It makes a person wonder. If you ask me, they both were pretty immature in their younger days and should have gotten equal attention for it. But anyway, while no one is hurling racial epithets at Evander Kane that we know about, simply treating him differently because of the colour of his skin is a form of racism.
 
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BenchedGuy

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Nov 26, 2009
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Kitchener
It's important to note that racial slurs and insults can be two very different things and it's overwhelmingly likely that they were in this instance.

I think the disconnect here is not what was said, but how the Rangers perceived the insults as racially motivated when they probably were not.

Now here is the problem, I dont know what was said...you dont know what was said...but now its a problem with how it was perceived??? With all your replies about this topic, whether you see it or not, you are saying it is acceptable (even in one post you "try" to say its not)

Again, none of us know what was said, but why was there a need to tighten security and Smith be given a police escort?

You are not playing devil's advocate and saying what if's, you are condoning the situation by continually trying to defend a standpoint that you dont know all the sides or what was said.

Oh and btw, insults are a form of verbal abuse. Any form of abuse should be taken out of hockey!
 

Rangers True Blue

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Aug 2, 2017
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Overwhelmingly likely? You don't know that at all.

We have no idea if there was a disconnect from Rangers POV. Maybe the disconnect is not being able to think that "maybe" some fans or players crossed a line in SSM? Maybe they didn't and the story is made up?

You have gone to turning it on to the people that were being "insulted" for misunderstanding the insults?

Denial, turning a blind eye ect.... is part of the issue with this entire subject.
I have no idea what was said. From your post, you do know what was said or are making assumptions to defend whoevers insults were "misinterpreted"?
Seriously, there's only one disconnect and that's the person saying there's a disconnect..........
 

Rangers True Blue

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Aug 2, 2017
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My stab in the dark for the 2018-2019 Lineup..
In no particular order for forwards and defence
Forward lines:
McHugh - Damini - Meireles
Liska - Petzian - Hugg
Tresoor - Langdon - Valade
Guest- McDonnell - Gordon
Yantsis

Defence:
Vukojevic - Gareffa
Vallati - York
Sebrango-Gentles
Hall

Goalies:
Richardson
Hasley
McBride(?)

* is it four 16 yr old skaters with a 16 yr old goalie
or a total on four 16 yr old players in a line-up

Promising lineup for what should be a fun season, Ward.....perhaps even surprising depending on goaltending. Although, I would like to see Joey back on a Fwd line. And hopefully, Sebrango will sign. It's a great time for him to get minutes. It will be interesting to see who that additional forward would be......perhaps McDonnel.....Serpa (who fared well at the OHL Gold Cup)......and is there room for another D?
 

BenchedGuy

Registered User
Nov 26, 2009
1,245
125
Kitchener
Thanks for all that posted about the OHL Gold Cup. I missed more games then I intended on watching.
I am very optimistic about MM last draft. Seeing Valade, Langdon, Serbrango, Serpa, Winsor and McBride play there is a lot of promise coming in the pipeline. Have to give Kudos to MM and his staff.

I remember watching Ladd and Vallati play at the OHL Gold Cup and thought they were ok. But watching Serbrango, I try not to hype him too much, but he looked far better and would be a great signing for us. Having Vukojevic and Serbrango on the back end with Vallati and some vets would go a long way to solidify our back end.
 
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BenchedGuy

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Nov 26, 2009
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Kitchener
Prospect Info:
Donovan Serbrango was selected by Waterloo with the last pick of the 2nd round of the USHL draft.
To me, this is a good sign as if there was an agreement in place I would think he would have been taken in the first round.

Only other prospect taken in the USHL draft so far is Declan McDonnell was taken by Lincoln in the 3rd rd.

Phase 2 of the draft is still going on.
 

bobber

Registered User
Jan 21, 2013
8,214
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Kitchener Ontario
Prospect Info:
Donovan Serbrango was selected by Waterloo with the last pick of the 2nd round of the USHL draft.
To me, this is a good sign as if there was an agreement in place I would think he would have been taken in the first round.

Only other prospect taken in the USHL draft so far is Declan McDonnell was taken by Lincoln in the 3rd rd.

Phase 2 of the draft is still going on.
One Ranger scout at the Gold Cup mentioned McDonnell like the hockey here and the area.
 
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