Rangers have the extra-man edge
KITCHENER — It’s the morning on a recent game day and members of the Kitchener Rangers, who aren’t in high school, are getting ready to hit the ice.
The early skate sees a familiar five — Jonathan Yantsis, Joseph Garreffa, Riley Damiani, Greg Meireles and Rickard Hugg — get a head start on the rest of the team with assistant coach Andreas Karlsson, who runs the club’s power play.
“We’re going out right now to run our routes,” said Damiani. “We take a lot of pride in special teams.”
The Rangers are powering up this season. The team was ranked first in the 20-team Ontario Hockey League with the man advantage with 53 goals in 186 chances for a conversion rate of 28.5 per cent heading into Tuesday’s game against the Erie Otters.
Keep that pace up and this year’s bunch will set a team record, at least for the 21 years the OHL has been keeping track of power play percentages on its website.
“Without having a really good power play we’d certainly have a few more losses on the season,” said head coach Jay McKee, who noted that the team’s ability to stay out of the penalty box (the team is the least penalized club in the league) has also been critical.
The Rangers have owned the top power play just once in the past 21 years. Derek Roy led the way with 17 extra man markers for the crew that potted 99 goals in 369 chances — or 26.8 per cent — in 2001-02.
The Memorial Cup finalists in 2007-08 finished second overall when up a man while the team has also had the third-best power play in the OHL three times (2004-05, 2005-06 and 2009-10) over the two-decade plus span.
This year’s first unit consists of five forwards in a one-three-one formation. Garreffa controls the point, Damiani and Meireles man the wing, Hugg plays high middle and Yantsis is parked in front of the goalie.
And, unlike last year’s star studded squad, there really isn’t a go-to guy.
“All five forwards on the ice can be dangerous at different areas,” said McKee. “They run different plays and they have built some chemistry.”
The one-three-one formation gives the quintet a lot of options — shooting of the fly, finding the middle man, down low looks for the backdoor pass and behind the net conversations, among others.
But the secret to success doesn’t come from a scripted sequence. It comes from allowing creative players to be creative.
“Andreas just gives us some structure and then just lets us go play,” said Damiani. “I think that’s the main thing. If we’re thinking one thing too much then it’s not going to work out.”
And when the top unit has an off-night, the second tier — defencemen Michael Vukojevic and Donovan Sebrango and forwards Reid Valade, Ryan Stepien and Alexey Lipanov — has also chipped in.
“We’re pretty hot on the power play right now,” said Damiani. “Special teams are huge. If we win at that, we definitely have an advantage in games.”