Kitchener Rangers show off new team and coaching staff at Rangers Fan Fest

A new look Kitchener Rangers team impress in front of their home crowd, defeating the Oshawa Generals at Sunday’s Fan Fest.

In front of a crowd of 2,275 fans, the Rangers outshot their opponent 33-21 in a 5-3 victory. 2023 second round pick Tanner Lam opened the scoring for the blue shirts and third-year veteran Matthew Sop scored three points.

Before the game, Sop spoke highly of his new team

“All these kids, they’re good players,” said Sop. The Rangers made it to the second round of the playoffs last season, but were defeated by the London Knights.

Sunday’s game was also a first look at Ranger’s new head coach Jussi Ahokas. The former European bench boss is known as one of the most decorated in European professional hockey. He has over 20 years of coaching experience and has won two gold medals with Finland. He was hired back in July and is the franchise’s 25th head coach.

In an interview with CityNews, Ahokas said he wants his team to be physical and one of the hardest teams to play against.

“We want to be good puck position team,” said Ahokas. “I think we have a good defensive core to do that.”

Rangers Chief Operations Officer Joe Birch said the team filled seven positions during the offseason, including head coach. He said fans should be excited to have Ahokas on the team due to a combination of his love of the game and experience with coaching junior players.

“He’s globally recognized in the sport,” said Birch. “We think he is going to have us play a style that is going to fit our young players. He’s a special hockey coach and we’re lucky to have him.”

The Rangers next pre-season game is against the Brantford Bulldogs on Sept 6.