Scoring milestone in sight
Posted Feb 25, 2011 04:11:03 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The next point scored by Kitchener Rangers forward Jason Akeson will be a special one.
But don’t expect him to break out into a special celebration.
“It depends on how it happens and then we’ll see,” the 20-year old Akeson said with a grin.
The occasion in question is Akeson’s 100th point of this OHL season. He’s sitting on 99 points with 11 games to play, virtually ensuring his eventual enshrinement in the Century Club.
Only five Rangers have gone there in the past 20 years and Akeson admits it was a goal of his coming into his overage season, albeit way down a list of priorities that focused on team successes like earning a playoff berth and playing deep into the spring season.
So how does a kid who was essentially a spare part during the 2008 Memorial Cup run (he had 2 points in 13 games in 2007-08) go from 64 to 80 to, now, possibly 100 points in an OHL season?
In a word, opportunity.
“The coaching staff has been great with me and taught me a lot along the way,” Akeson notes. “It’s something special for me but it’s something special here (in Kitchener) too. It’s something fun for the fans so I’m just looking forward to it and, knock on wood, hopefully it won’t take too long to get.”
While he shies away from the subject, there’s no doubt Akeson would like to register the milestone marker in front of the home crowd tonight. Jeff Skinner scored his 50th goal on home ice last season but didn’t register 100 points. Neither did fellow departed sniper Jeremy Morin.
The last Kitchener Ranger to score 100 points in a season was Justin Azevedo, who potted 124 points en route to a scoring title in 2007-08. Azevedo now plies his trade with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs as a member of the Los Angeles Kings organization. He’s got 35 points in 59 games this season.
But back to Akeson who, at 99 points, also has a league scoring title in his sights. He leads Ottawa’s Tyler Toffoli by 6 points.
He tries not to think about it.
“I just want to keep doing what I’ve been doing and playing the game right,” Akeson says. “But if our third and fourth lines keep grinding it out and getting power plays for us, the points will come. And if our top lines are getting points that usually means we’re winning and that’s two points in the standings for the team, which is the most important thing.”
Akeson credits his linemates — and there have been many of them as the Rangers battled injuries and suspensions — with helping him achieve his scoring success this season.
With three times as many assists as goals (24G, 75A) it seems obvious that sharing the puck comes naturally to Akeson.
“I guess it’s just kind of in my head that I enjoy making people look good,” Akeson admits. “If I was coming down on a 2-on-1 I’d rather give the back door pass than shoot it.”
That habit has also put Akeson in reach of the Rangers single season assist record of 83, set by Dwight Foster in 1976-77.
But what he and the Rangers really want to reach more than anything is the Owen Sound Attack, who have a three point lead on Kitchener in the Midwest Division. Catching the Attack would likely also mean claiming top spot in the Western Conference. So Akeson’s goals (and assists) are not all that’s on the line as a stiff test with Saginaw looms tonight.
Jason Firth, Joey St. Aubin, Trevor Gallant, Evan McGrath and Azevedo are the other Rangers to score at least 100 points in a season since 1990-91.
