Gennies have the size, and speed. I know I sound like a broken record, but our GM thinks that speed is a small man’s domain, but games like this prove that to be inaccurate. The Shwa had a few guys under 6’, where we seem to have a half dozen.
If I had to go into deeper I'd say it is a combination of numerous things. 1 The cost of everything has gone up (there covid in here too) and there are less people willing to spend $30 a ticket to go see hockey even though it's much cheaper compared to a maple leafs game. 2 I think the more casual fans are unhappy with the overall performance of the team since the 2008 season. Sure there have been a handful of Midwest titles and conference finals appearances but no league title to show compared to every other team in the division. 3 I think there has been a large demographic shift in Waterloo region, and I'm not saying this is why or that other regions don't have similar things happening, but I think there are fewer and fewer hockey fans here per capita then their once was. Ultimately the team has been looking good again in the last couple years and things are for sure looking up when we look ahead so fingers crossed the Aud is packed more often.
Probably the main reason is that it’s an out of conference game on a Tuesday night. Unfortunately, we only play London three times at the Aud and we want to have more than three Tuesday night games at home.
Moot.
Gens played a playoff game last night. Lesson for the Rangers. Some games against these top squads the Rangers seemed intimidated. The Gens played a physical chippy game. There was no real push back. They kept the Rangers to the outside in the O zone and forced them to take shots from further out. Rangers managed to get a point. Play like this in the first round of the play offs it will be a short season.
That led to a 6 game series against Erie last year, and a very banged up lineup vs a well rested London squad (that we weren't beating anyway).
My understanding:
