Rangers head to Sarnia as Bottineau heads to Guelph

The East Avenue Blue have a date with the Sarnia Sting on Wednesday; the penultimate game of the unofficial first half of the OHL season.

Kitchener is coming off a 3-2 loss to the London Knights last Sunday, which kept the Rangers tied with the Windsor Spitfires at 47 points, but Windsor sits in second overall because they lead the West Division. London leads the league with 50 points.

The Sting has struggled of late, dropping eight of the last ten. Their 27 points puts them last in West Division and seventeenth overall.

Rangers winger Jack Pridham has been red hot of late. The 19-year-old has registered at least one point in all but three games since joining the Rangers on November 15. He has goals in his last three.

Netminder Jackson Parsons continues to be rock solid between the pipes for the Blue Shirts. His 2.08 GAA, and .927 SV per cent continues to lead the league.

The Rangers will be without defenceman Jakub Chromiak. It appears as though he will be representing his native Slovakia at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa.

Ahead of the game, the Rangers also announced the trade of Justin Bottineau to the Guelph Storm. The trade would see the Rangers receive a fifth-round pick for the 2028 OHL Priority Selection.

“We would like to thank Justin for his hard work and dedication to our team,” said Kitchener Rangers General Manager, Mike McKenzie. “It is never easy to see a player move on that has been here for 3 years but hopefully this will provide more opportunity for Justin moving forward.”

Bottineau was previously drafted in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection as the 56 overall pick in the third round. Since then, he has played in 140 games, tallying 10 goals and 31 points.

Game time at Progressive Auto Sales Arena is set for 7:05 p.m.

Mike Farwell and Paul Fixter will have the call, beginning with the pregame show at 6:30 pm.

The Rangers wrap up the unofficial first half at home to the Ottawa 67’s on Friday.