The Parkland Rangers sit in seventh place in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League after a successful weekend.
The Rangers began the week with a 5-2 loss to the Yellowhead Chiefs, Jan. 13, in Shoal Lake.
Parkland then earned a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Interlake Lightning, Friday in Dauphin.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Rangers were in Morden for a pair of games against the Pembina Valley Hawks, with the two teams sitting tied with 37 points.
After a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday and a 5-3 victory, Sunday, the Rangers are now three up on the Hawks and tied with Southwest for sixth place.
Rangers head coach Rick Freese was pleased with the team’s play against the Hawks.
“We showed up with that fire and that work ethic and we worked. We worked and we didn’t watch. Our neutral zone was real good, because we worked. And we worked in that containment mode. I was real happy with the weekend. The players played extremely well,” he said.
Although disappointed not to get the win against Interlake, Freese noted the Lightning’s record does not reflect how well they can play.
“And I know for a fact that if we played against Interlake the way we played against Pembina Valley, that we would have gotten those two points, for sure,” he said, adding the Rangers were missing several key players from the lineup and dressed four APs for Sunday’s game.
“We had five of our top players out of the lineup on Sunday and some of those young kids really stepped up and were working. So it’s good to see,” he said.
“We’re going to go with the guys that want to work and the guys that want to do what we want them to do.”
Sweeping the two games against the Hawks will show the Rangers how successful they can be when they work hard, especially in the defensive zone.
“I think that they see when we don’t watch in the D zone and we’re anticipating and our neutral zone is plugged up and we’re steering properly, I think that these guys see what we’re capable of,” Freese said.
“We’re tied for sixth place. Everything is so tight in our league right now, one hiccup weekend puts you down in eighth. We want to stay up in that five, six area and I think we’re on our way to playing that way.”
Freese added he is pleased with the fire and passion the players displayed in the two wins over Pembina Valley.
“We out worked them, plain and simple. That’s how we won those games,” he said.
“Our goaltending, too. Carter Sigurdson played real well on the weekend. When we’ve got 20 guys playing a team game, from the goaltender out, it just makes that much of a difference.”
The Rangers hit the road this weekend for a twinbill in Teulon against the Lightning, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Freese said the team is looking forward to these two games with an eye on winning both.
“We want to keep climbing. We’ll do some video here on Tuesday, three practices this week and then we’ll get back to it this weekend,” he said.
