Kitchener Rangers 2022-23 Season Thread (Part 3)

[bobber]

5th place - Doubtful. Only if we would surprisingly turn it around these next 5 extremely tough games. If we don't get to 5th place it's almost certainly a first round playoff exit unless Sarnia lives up to their playoff legacy once again. I doubt they will.

6th place - Likely. After this 5 game gauntlet the remaining schedule is mostly weaker teams. We should be able to go on some good streaks. I'm guessing we won't really be playing much better hockey but lesser opponents won't be making us pay for our mistakes. This will show in the playoffs.

7th-8th place - Possible. If we have a difficult time righting the ship and getting out of this spin. We barely keep our heads above water.

9th or 10th - Not likely. But at a certain point do the players with pro contracts just say the hell with it and hope for a call up after the OHL season.

Martin used his size last night in a losing cause. He did show up on the NHL Central scouting report as "limited viewing". He is a year older in this draft. I believe some players are eligible for the draft and when the team is a mess they play for themselves hoping like hell they get noticed.

 

[robertmac43]

Changing tune a bit here. Solid video on Xhekaj:

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Changing tune a bit here. Solid video on Xhekaj:

I recently watched a documentary called The Death of Yugoslavia; for as recent a conflict and as large as it was, it's mostly forgotten here in the west. It's quite fascinating and worth a watch but also extremely depressing. It was a particularly brutal time (and would have flare up after the Yugoslav wars) for Albanians and Muslims in the Balkans, especially Bosnnia-Herzegovina.

 

[Jives]

I check Twitter and here every hour or so waiting to hear the announcement on CD firing. If it doesn’t happen soon I think both CD and MM announcement will come after the season ends. MM needs to make that call soon to save his ass in a couple months and try to turn this around soon.

 

[bobber]

True enough. But when they continually regurgitate the company line with lame reasons why the coach isn't at fault, it gets old.

Maybe it's time for the GM to step in front of the microphone and give his thoughts on why the season is going so badly and defend the coach if that's the way he feels. We can only hope he does it before Groundhog Day and doesn't see his shadow.

Ghost can't see his shadow. Haven't seen MM in a long time. This is why he doesn't look in the mirror either. He does at least owe an explanation to the people in the stands who are dishing out big bucks to be entertained. It's almost like a political issue that bothers the whole community and it's being ignored. This has to be mentally challenging to the players on the team.

 

[OhSheilaa]

A good carpenter can do good work with limited tools
Give that carpenter great tools and they'll be able to do amazing work.
If that carpenter has great tools and they're not doing amazing work, it's the carpenter's fault.

Last night the carpenter with great tools was shown up by the carpenter that had limited tools, but knows how the get the most out of them.

Adam Zidlicky With the Rangers 30 Games: 5 goals, 7 asists - 12 Points. With the Steelheads 5 games 2 goals, 1 assist 3 points.

Joseph Serpa Rangers 25 games 10 goals 10 assists 20 points. With Oshawa 11 games, 3 goals, 2 assists 5 points.

Zidlicky especially is playing better under a different coach.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

I check Twitter and here every hour or so waiting to hear the announcement on CD firing. If it doesn’t happen soon I think both CD and MM announcement will come after the season ends. MM needs to make that call soon to save his ass in a couple months and try to turn this around soon.

I have a feeling MM has a new gig lied up for next season

 

[RayzorIsDull]

As an outsider I don't always pay attention to Farwell and I get the rah rah stuff. I saw his tweet thread on Saturday I believe when he brought up the 07 Sudbury Wolves who were under .500 and went on a huge run to the OHL Finals. I don't know if that is admirable or sad. There's a reason why that doesn't happen often and you could make the case Kitchener was under .500 last year and pulled the upset in round 1. Going out and tweeting that seems to be pandering to the cheerleaders and not really based in reality.

 

[Billyjack]

At this point in the season, where do people see us finishing? I'm thinking 6th will be the realistic spot, although I'm hoping for 5th place.

 

[Billyjack]

I see us out of the playoffs, seriously. What would be the point, be fodder for London or Windsor. Season tickets for 30 years , never seen a mess like this. 1st time I won’t be buying playoff tickets, don’t think I’ll be watching on TV either. Feel sorry for these players that were brought into this mess. I’ve sId they should have sold all along. Maybe we’ll get lucky in the lottery

 

[EvenSteven]

I see us out of the playoffs, seriously. What would be the point, be fodder for London or Windsor. Season tickets for 30 years , never seen a mess like this. 1st time I won’t be buying playoff tickets, don’t think I’ll be watching on TV either. Feel sorry for these players that were brought into this mess. I’ve sId they should have sold all along. Maybe we’ll get lucky in the lottery

Last night, at the beginning of the 3rd period, my wife, who’s also a huge Ranger fan, said to me, ”I can’t believe you’re going to watch the rest of this game.”

I can’t believe I did either.

As I said before, the last time this happened was in GM/coach Tom Barrett’s last year here. Traded for vets in an attempt to contend and there was no improvement after the deadline.

He got canned with a few regular season games left and Joe MacDonnell took over.

If MM doesn’t act soon, and this continues, someone may have to pull the plug on him.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

At this point in the season, where do people see us finishing? I'm thinking 6th will be the realistic spot, although I'm hoping for 5th place.

They haven't shown me that they're even a consistent 8th place team let alone a 6th place team.

Honestly, I said in an earlier post that as the way things stand, The Soo beats Kitchener out for the 8th and final playoff spot by 1 point.

I think 7th or 8th is the highest this team can get too

6th in the west last year finished with 76 points and I believe Kitchener is on pace for 62/63.


My guess is 8th while keeping in mind that 9th is totally an option.

 

[bobber]

Rangers weren't really a contender to start the season with the team they were icing. There was the hope that Mesar would swoop in and save the season . Maybe get something going. Injuries and suspensions dampened the effort. MM decides to go for it in his wisdom because the cupboard was substantial. The players he picked up were decent but not the big fish others like Ottawa , Windsor and the Petes landed. What they have maybe with a decent coach is a mid pack team. Then you mix in this go from "worse to first" coach and away we go. I love the taste of crow. Maybe there is a miracle on ice for us in the offing? One thing that sticks out with the Rangers is they never play down the middle. Always along the boards. London kept them to the outside and hammered them in their end. Rangers really don't get much playing time in the opposing end. It's in for a shot and right back down the ice. I like big Edwards on the Knights. Wash his face and lose a chiclet.

 

[GeoBlue]

Here's a statistic that will shock you. Since the trades +/-

Arcuri Kingston 29 Games -6 Kitchener 11 Games -6

Moore Oshawa 27 Games +10 Kitchener 11 Games -2

Zhilkin Guelph 25 Games -7 Kitchener 6 Games -9

Here's another stat..........Shots on goal in the 1st period...........Kitchener - 4, people shooting for prizes between 1st and 2nd - 3.

 

[TheBlueMonster]

The Soo have extended their 8th place lead by 5 points on us.

Here's the schedule for the weekend

Friday VS Ottawa
Saturday VS Sarnia
Sunday VS London

Bringing our total Games to 40.

Guelph will have played 43 and the Soo 43 as well.

Bringing the games in hand to 3. Was as much as 6 recently.

Going 0-3 is not an option and honestly it may be the way it goes. Ottawa knows that coming into the Aud is an easy dub right now despite Kitchener being 10-9 at home.

This has to be a 2-1 weekend. HAS to be. Winning one and losing two isn't a moral victory. Winning these games in hand needs to happen now.

Let's see what team we get this weekend. Chris Dennis is out of excuses. An 0-3 weekend and Mike McKenzie better in front of the media Monday morning with an explanation of things.

 

[EvenSteven]

The Soo have extended their 8th place lead by 5 points on us.

Here's the schedule for the weekend

Friday VS Ottawa
Saturday VS Sarnia
Sunday VS London

Bringing our total Games to 40.

Guelph will have played 43 and the Soo 43 as well.

Bringing the games in hand to 3. Was as much as 6 recently.

Going 0-3 is not an option and honestly it may be the way it goes. Ottawa knows that coming into the Aud is an easy dub right now despite Kitchener being 10-9 at home.

This has to be a 2-1 weekend. HAS to be. Winning one and losing two isn't a moral victory. Winning these games in hand needs to happen now.

Let's see what team we get this weekend. Chris Dennis is out of excuses. An 0-3 weekend and Mike McKenzie better in front of the media Monday morning with an explanation of things.

I’m already wavering whether to check out or not on the season. That mess vs London had me wondering why I wasted my night.

Any less than 2-1 this weekend without changes, and this team probably won’t be my first consideration going forward this season. If there’s one thing Covid taught me, is that there’s more to do out there than religiously follow this team.

I’m not saying I won’t pay attention, but watching a few highlights may be enough for me.

 

[Jives]

I’m already wavering whether to check out or not on the season. That mess vs London had me wondering why I wasted my night.

Any less than 2-1 this weekend without changes, and this team probably won’t be my first consideration going forward this season. If there’s one thing Covid taught me, is that there’s more to do out there than religiously follow this team.

I’m not saying I won’t pay attention, but watching a few highlights may be enough for me.

“Few highlights” that must be over a week?

 

[Fischhaber]

They haven't shown me that they're even a consistent 8th place team let alone a 6th place team.

Honestly, I said in an earlier post that as the way things stand, The Soo beats Kitchener out for the 8th and final playoff spot by 1 point.

I think 7th or 8th is the highest this team can get too

6th in the west last year finished with 76 points and I believe Kitchener is on pace for 62/63.


My guess is 8th while keeping in mind that 9th is totally an option.

Keep an eye on struggling Flint in your effort to move up the standings. The Soo could pass them with a win on Friday. They have really been struggling lately.

 

[bobber]

The Soo picked up points with a win last night. They seem to be picking up momentum at this point. They are in a tougher division IMO than the Rangers. Rangers have to hope the Storm falter somewhere down the road. It crazy to think Ranger fans have to hope the team makes the play offs when MM is going for it.
If the season wears on like it has the only excitement will be the lottery. Will they screw that up too?

 

[robertmac43]

Going into the season if you had told me this team would not at the very least match last years in making the second round i would have thought you are crazy.....

Here we are wishing for 6th place at the best....

 

[Gondrex]

The Soo picked up points with a win last night. They seem to be picking up momentum at this point. They are in a tougher division IMO than the Rangers. Rangers have to hope the Storm falter somewhere down the road. It crazy to think Ranger fans have to hope the team makes the play offs when MM is going for it.
If the season wears on like it has the only excitement will be the lottery. Will they screw that up too?

....and it's teams like the Soo, etc. that are getting wins here and there all the while developing their future and to add insult, climbing the standings ahead of this loaded struggling team. As I had mentioned previously, you might see in total (3) or (4) 05's and/or 06 in and out of the line-up on any given night. With the exception of two 05's - Rehkopf and Andonovski - the others are not getting consistent game development.

Note: just to emphasize, the "06" mentioned above is not plural.

 

[bobber]

....and it's teams like the Soo, etc. that are getting wins here and there all the while developing their future and to add insult, climbing the standings ahead of this loaded struggling team. As I had mentioned previously, you might see in total (3) or (4) 05's and/or 06 in and out of the line-up on any given night. With the exception of two 05's - Rehkopf and Andonovski - the others are not getting consistent game development.

Note: just to emphasize, the "06" mentioned above is not plural.

Rangers have one 06 Bottineau. In the draft one report said he should have went second round he was that good. Rangers got him in the 3rd. Hasn't developed here that much. Typical.

 

[Purple Phart]

As an expression of fan disappointment, perhaps a funeral memorial wreath with a "deepest sympathy" ribbon attached could be held up behind the team bench. If anything would convey the "message", that might do the trick. The coaching staff might not appreciate seeing it, but if they're the ones most responsible for killing fan hopes & dreams, then why not make them uncomfortably accountable ?

 

[RangerNation]

As an expression of fan disappointment, perhaps a funeral memorial wreath with a "deepest sympathy" ribbon attached could be held up behind the team bench. If anything would convey the "message", that might do the trick. The coaching staff might not appreciate seeing it, but if they're the ones most responsible for killing fan hopes & dreams, then why not make them uncomfortably accountable ?

We had some boos at the end of the first period on Tuesday and few fire Dennis chants near the end of the game, although, I don't think 2 guys yelling it would classify a chant. If it's a blowout to start the 3rd period on Friday, I can imagine more boos. The audible gasps of frustration after a goal against is getting louder. A jersey on the ice would just cause Dennis and MM to blame the fans for not being P-word.

 

[HockeyPops]

paper bags?