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New Kitchener Ranger has been watching the team since he was a toddler
Logan Stanley was a toddler when he attended his first Kitchener Rangers game.
Parents Lori and Jeff used to take turns cradling their son in their gold-section seats directly across from the home team’s bench at the Aud.
“The first time Logan went to a Rangers game, I think he was 1½ with his mini stick in hand,” his mother Lori recalled. “We thought we’d be lucky to get a period in but he stayed for the whole game.” This week Stanley returns to the Aud. Only this time he’ll be skating for the Rangers.
The Waterloo native was reassigned to the Ontario Hockey League club by the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night, and will make his home debut Friday against Owen Sound.
Fittingly, the 19-year-old will play his first game of the season for Kitchener on the road Thursday against his former club, the Windsor Spitfires. The defending Memorial Cup champs traded the veteran defenceman to Kitchener in the summer.
“My heart will always be with Windsor,” said Stanley, who was drafted 12th overall by the Spits in 2014.
“But we’re trying to build something here in Kitchener and it will be fun to end my junior career here.”
Stanley has a special bond with the East Avenue barn.
As a boy, he used to get to games extra early so he could stand nose to glass in awe as the blur of the red, white and blue sweaters raced by during warm-up.
“He was mesmerized by the players out there,” his mother said.
Friday nights at the Aud were a fixture for the family. Lori would catch up with other hockey moms in the stands while her husband shared a drink on the concourse level with the dads. “The boys would be all riled up and the guys would move the tables in the beer garden and make a mini-stick area for them,” said Lori.
As Stanley got older, his focus shifted more to the ice with players such as Derek Roy, Jeff Skinner, Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan Murphy catching his eye.
“I would look forward to every Friday night,” said Stanley.
So it was surreal when he got to step on the ice at the Aud for the first time as a player. Stanley was a fresh face with the Spitfires just looking to make an impression in that game on Nov. 21, 2014.
“He told me that he took a moment before the game,” said his mom. “He went up high and was sitting in the corner at the Aud. He looked down at the ice and thought he couldn’t believe he was going to play his first game in that building in the OHL.”
The Rangers won, 2-1, but Stanley’s career was off and running.
He spent three seasons with Windsor, culminating with an incredible run that saw the Spits finish fifth in the OHL’s western conference but sweep through the Memorial Cup undefeated this past May.
Stanley didn’t want to leave Windsor but welcomed the trade to Kitchener as his former club looks to rebuild. The deal means he can live at home during his final season of junior before moving on to chase his dream of playing professional hockey elsewhere. The Rangers need the help. Kitchener is in win now mode. Adding a first-round NHL draft pick to the back end bolsters the team’s bid to challenge for an OHL title.
“He just adds a different element,” said Rangers coach Jay McKee. “He can go up against top lines every night. He can put fear into opponents. He’s a guy that has the experience of winning a Memorial Cup.”
And he brings something else — an understanding of what it means to be a Ranger.
“I’m trying to set a good example for the young kids that come to watch us play,” he said. “I knew how important it was to me when I was little, so I want to return the favour.”
Heading back to Windsor Thursday is certainly on Stanley’s mind. But so too is Friday’s debut at the Aud against the Attack.
It’s a game he’s been waiting for his entire life.
“It will be nice being on the home side,” he said.