Kitchener Rangers 2016-17 Season Thread (Part 2)

[bobber]

Rangers posted a picture of Opilka back on the Aud ice with his equipment on today.

Click to read more...

 

[Ward Cornell]

Rangers posted a picture of Opilka back on the Aud ice with his equipment on today.

Have you had a chance to attend any of the practices to see if he's actually doing more than just posing for pictures?

 

[CharlieGirl]

Rangers posted a picture of Opilka back on the Aud ice with his equipment on today.

That was nice to see. Hopefully he's well on his way to healthy.

 

[bobber]

Have you had a chance to attend any of the practices to see if he's actually doing more than just posing for pictures?

No I haven't been down there for a couple of weeks. Have to pick up a grandson at school when they are on the ice. Looks to me by the picture as though Opilka is working with the goalie coach or just getting his skating legs in shape.

 

[Ward Cornell]

That was nice to see. Hopefully he's well on his way to healthy.

where is this picture?....looked on the Ranger site and didn't see any picture or article...opps Just saw it on Facebook and from the sweat on his uni looks like the workout was quite vigorous

Great measuring stick this week with London, Hamilton and the early East favourite Mississauga! It will be interesting to see
the end results!

 

[Tim Raines]

I see Cleveland signed Keith Aulie to a PTO today. He's a pretty veteran D and they also have Brookbank being healthy-scratched. With Hora already on the bottom pairing, fingers crossed he'll be back.

 

[Sleeperpick]

I see Cleveland signed Keith Aulie to a PTO today. He's a pretty veteran D and they also have Brookbank being healthy-scratched. With Hora already on the bottom pairing, fingers crossed he'll be back.

We still need more depth on D even if Hora comes back

 

[bobber]

where is this picture?....looked on the Ranger site and didn't see any picture or article...opps Just saw it on Facebook and from the sweat on his uni looks like the workout was quite vigorous

Great measuring stick this week with London, Hamilton and the early East favourite Mississauga! It will be interesting to see
the end results!

The picture is on the Ranger twitter site.

 

[Tim Raines]

We still need more depth on D even if Hora comes back

Not sure I totally agree. With him back, we have two OA's, a 19-year-old, two 18-year-olds, two 17-year-olds and a 1st round 16-year-old, along with Garreffa as the swing man.

When Roberts slots in at #5, you're pretty deep. (I do think all teams always feel they can use more depth on D though).

 

[RoyalCitySlicker]

Here ya go:

 

[EvenSteven]

We still need more depth on D even if Hora comes back

I agree 100% with Tim Raines. We'd have a very good top six. I have no issue with that.

 

[Ward Cornell]

I agree 100% with Tim Raines. We'd have a very good top six. I have no issue with that.

Agree with you and Tim Raines but they do need to play quite a bit better!!! Just way too scramblie and disorganized now. Hopefully Barnaby isn't in over his head.

 

[EvenSteven]

Agree with you and Tim Raines but they do need to play quite a bit better!!! Just way too scramblie and disorganized now. Hopefully Barnaby isn't in over his head.

Agree. It's more coaching than personnel. Again, no issue with the D if Hora returns.

And if Opilka can be on his game upon his return......

 

[bobber]

Agree. It's more coaching than personnel. Again, no issue with the D if Hora returns.

And if Opilka can be on his game upon his return......

Even I think you are correct on the coaching. The team seems to have the right players but the play seems scrambly at times. They look like gangbusters for ten minutes then seem to forget their roles. I understand it takes a while to get the message across.

 

[bobber]

From Brown's blog:
As for the Rangers, goalie Luke Opilka is back on the ice, but not at full practice yet.
The Blueshirts are nursing him along after hip surgery. He's week-to-week right now. His return date will depend on how he responds to regular work. It sounds like a best case scenario has him back in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Connor Bunnaman and Nick McHugh are back at full speed and ready to go tomorrow against London. Bunnaman missed Sunday's win over Guelph after blocking a shot Saturday against Owen Sound. McHugh has been sick and missed the past three games.
Kyle Gentles is been reassessed after leaving Sunday's game in Guelph and was not at practice Tuesday. Blueliner Connor Hall took part in the workout but wore a white "no contact" jersey. He's day-to-day.

 

[EvenSteven]

From Brown's blog:
As for the Rangers, goalie Luke Opilka is back on the ice, but not at full practice yet.
The Blueshirts are nursing him along after hip surgery. He's week-to-week right now. His return date will depend on how he responds to regular work. It sounds like a best case scenario has him back in two weeks.
Meanwhile, Connor Bunnaman and Nick McHugh are back at full speed and ready to go tomorrow against London. Bunnaman missed Sunday's win over Guelph after blocking a shot Saturday against Owen Sound. McHugh has been sick and missed the past three games.
Kyle Gentles is been reassessed after leaving Sunday's game in Guelph and was not at practice Tuesday. Blueliner Connor Hall took part in the workout but wore a white "no contact" jersey. He's day-to-day.

Brown got the Mark Hunter situation wrong in his article. Hunter was coaching Sarnia full time at the time of that incident. He wasn't filling in for Hofford in London. He and Dale hadn't yet bought the Knights. Mark sent a player out to fight a Guelph player. What he may not have known were that the two players grew up together and were good buddies. As they lined up for the faceoff, the Sarnia player told the Guelph player that he got sent out to fight him and told him "we have to go". the Guelph player skated over to his bench, told his coach, the coach told the ref, and the rest is history.

And if he was going to bring up coaching suspensions, he could have mentioned Rangers' assistant coach Greg Bignell and his 25 gamer for actually slugging a Sarnia trainer and asst coach during a brawl at the Aud. Bignell was enraged when the asst coach was grabbing Ranger players from his bench during the brawl. This was a while ago. During Ryan Pepperall's rookie season I believe.

 

[bobber]

Brown got the Mark Hunter situation wrong in his article. Hunter was coaching Sarnia full time at the time of that incident. He wasn't filling in for Hofford in London. He and Dale hadn't yet bought the Knights. Mark sent a player out to fight a Guelph player. What he may not have known were that the two players grew up together and were good buddies. As they lined up for the faceoff, the Sarnia player told the Guelph player that he got sent out to fight him and told him "we have to go". the Guelph player skated over to his bench, told his coach, the coach told the ref, and the rest is history.

And if he was going to bring up coaching suspensions, he could have mentioned Rangers' assistant coach Greg Bignell and his 25 gamer for actually slugging a Sarnia trainer and asst coach during a brawl at the Aud. Bignell was enraged when the asst coach was grabbing Ranger players from his bench during the brawl. This was a while ago. During Ryan Pepperall's rookie season I believe.

Not sure where Brown gets his info. I was only concerned with the Rangers present situation. I guess Brown had to produce something so he was digging back through history.

 

[Nabru]

Brown got the Mark Hunter situation wrong in his article. Hunter was coaching Sarnia full time at the time of that incident. He wasn't filling in for Hofford in London. He and Dale hadn't yet bought the Knights. Mark sent a player out to fight a Guelph player. What he may not have known were that the two players grew up together and were good buddies. As they lined up for the faceoff, the Sarnia player told the Guelph player that he got sent out to fight him and told him "we have to go". the Guelph player skated over to his bench, told his coach, the coach told the ref, and the rest is history.

And if he was going to bring up coaching suspensions, he could have mentioned Rangers' assistant coach Greg Bignell and his 25 gamer for actually slugging a Sarnia trainer and asst coach during a brawl at the Aud. Bignell was enraged when the asst coach was grabbing Ranger players from his bench during the brawl. This was a while ago. During Ryan Pepperall's rookie season I believe.

I can't believe I was able to find an article online from 2000 but Brown's right. Hunters had just bought the Knights and then this happened.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/sports/hockey/ohl-upholds-hunter-suspension-1.207777

 

[Sleeperpick]

I agree 100% with Tim Raines. We'd have a very good top six. I have no issue with that.

I think people are forgetting about injuries. They always happen and that is why we need depth

 

[EvenSteven]

I can't believe I was able to find an article online from 2000 but Brown's right. Hunters had just bought the Knights and then this happened.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/sports/hockey/ohl-upholds-hunter-suspension-1.207777

Oops!! I have to blame this on old age. I could have sworn he was still coaching in Sarnia. My Bad!!

 

[EvenSteven]

I think people are forgetting about injuries. They always happen and that is why we need depth

If we get any deeper on D, players like Vallati and Gentles won't get any icetime when we're healthy. And having Roberts as a number six does him no good either when it comes to development.

 

[Ward Cornell]

If we get any deeper on D, players like Vallati and Gentles won't get any icetime when we're healthy. And having Roberts as a number six does him no good either when it comes to development.

Agreed!....In a non-contending year (the Rangers will be good but not a true contender) trading assets to build depth isn't the way to go. If injuries do happen then Peterson will play and if necessary just roll 5 d-men and then 4 if required for a few games. Geesch....Spott rolled 3 d-men in the playoffs under a tighter schedule.

 

[Sleeperpick]

Agreed!....In a non-contending year (the Rangers will be good but not a true contender) trading assets to build depth isn't the way to go. If injuries do happen then Peterson will play and if necessary just roll 5 d-men and then 4 if required for a few games. Geesch....Spott rolled 3 d-men in the playoffs under a tighter schedule.

See that is where we disagree. I do not think we are too far off this year to be a true contender. But that is just my opinion.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Kitchener is one of three honourable mentions on the BMO CHL Top 10 list.

 

[bobber]

Darby was on the Eric Drozd show at noon. Asked the difference between Smith's coaching and McKee's . He basically said they team now is told to be creative even if they make some mistakes and Smith had them more regimented and not allowed to try anything outside his system. This does sound a lot like what Spott served up here for years.