How I miss the Deboer and Spott days. The 2003 team will always be my top Rangers memory. It is not because they won the Memorial Cup but it is because they had a great team and were fun to watch.
In his second year in Kitchener they won the Memorial Cup but he made a bunch of great moves. I will say though that they were very fortunate or smart you can say to take over a team with a great young core; Roy, Eminger, Benoit, Ramsey, Smith, Dickie all as 16 and 17 year olds. I remember the first move they did was bringing in Policelli. He was one mean tough SOB to play against. He really set the tone for the team. That first season they bring Kanko over as an import and traded for Keefe. That season they were 35-22-10 on the year. They were good but it was the next year that it all counted.
Heading into their Mem Cup season they had a great core but every single player had one thing in common; they all hustled and played hard. When the best players on the team are all hard workers it sets the tone for any new players to the team. First move of that season was trading fan favourite Ramsey who had two years left for one year of Campbell. I remember fans not liking that one at the time. They bring in Clarkson and O’Nabigon during the season. Eason was in his second year and Harrison made an impact as a rookie defenceman.
Clarkson - Roy - Campbell
O’Nabigon - Richards - Kanko
Bottom 6 consisting of;
McGrath, Martynowski, McCaffrey, Grennier, McFarland, Keefe,
Eminger - Smith
Halkidis- Eason
Manias - Harrison
Duff
That was one hell of a tough team to play against.