Kitchener Rangers 2024-25 Season Thread, Part III

[EvenSteven]

DeBoer’s teams here played on the edge and could afford to take penalties as his PK allowed for it. We were always at or near the top of the league in that department.

Rangers are at the top of the league in PK today. They can afford to kill the odd ill advised penalty or two - though I wouldn’t want to put THAT PP on the ice any more than it needs to be.

 

[bobber]

If any or all of Andovoski's penalties send a message / get under the opponent's skin / gets the other team off their game I'm for it. I really don't care whether or not it supports a tough guy label. Yes, the London PP is the best in the league, and the Rangers were lucky this time round. However, this team has a choice. They can either participate in the game-in-game stuff, or they can continue to take the abuse like the last two years. The one thing that sticks with me was watching a guy like Motew (finally) get taken out of the series after two year's of playoff abuse [I'm actually surprised he lasted the 6 games worth].

This is just my own rant / opinion or whatever you want to call it, but I'd rather see this team go down fighting than watching the same old, same old. This is nothing against the way the Knights play. Hunter has them playing on the line, and he's successful. But if there's a 3rd year of this match-up, I hope to see a different Rangers team. Seeing a non-fighter like Mercer dropping the mits, likely knowing he has no chance shows me a lot and gives me hope for a different playoff-type team.

Nothing wrong with sandpaper. As the season wears on and teams are fighting for playoff positions games will get more physical. Jussi doesn't seem to mind players sticking up for one another. Teams are going to take penalties for the rough stuff. A strong PK takes the edge off the issue and at the moment the Rangers have one of the best. Just have to pick your spots.

 

[Gondrex]

DeBoer’s teams here played on the edge and could afford to take penalties as his PK allowed for it. We were always at or near the top of the league in that department.

Rangers are at the top of the league in PK today. They can afford to kill the odd ill advised penalty or two - though I wouldn’t want to put THAT PP on the ice any more than it needs to be.

Absolutely right, and there's definitely that risk playing that type of game.. Fortunately for one night the Knight's PP seemed slightly off, but for sure you don't want to take more penalties than you have to against that group.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Playing in your face doesn’t have to result in all the penalties. Ando was great laying out Sims, Haltunen and others. Not sure how a face wash to someone lying on the ice, a high stick in the neutral zone and dusting the goalie with snow adds up to a tough guy. To me, there is a difference, and he needs to address that. Not just last night have dumb penalties been an issue. Jussi may be willing to live with it, but the Sens may not be as understanding.

There are exactly 0 players like Ando that have a 100% success rate in determining when their hits will be perfectly legal and when they will cross the line. There are many different factors. I especially don't expect kids to always make good judgement calls when they are playing on edge.

Compared to say Xhekaj, while he's not the same calibre of fighter as X, he takes less selfish, bone headed penalties than he was taking in his final year here. I liked what X brought and accepted that once that dog is off the leash, he's not coming home until he bites half the neighbourhood.