Once a Ranger, always a Ranger
Posted May 30, 2026 05:36:05 AM.
Last Updated Jun 1, 2026 12:33:33 PM.
Much like fans, former players and coaches with the Kitchener Rangers seem to forge a lifelong connection to the hockey club.
Take Joe McDonnell, for example: the Kitchener native grew up a fan before finding himself as both a player and a coach for the team, reaching the Memorial Cup final twice. In 1981, his final season of junior hockey, McDonnell and the Rangers lost the championship to Cornwall.
“The support (from the fans) is incredible,” McDonnell recalls. “I remember back when I played and we went to the Memorial Cup. I can still picture the fans as we were carting the (OHL championship) trophy around the rink. It was just an incredible feeling.”
Nine years later, McDonnell was back as head coach, and the Rangers came up just short again, losing the Memorial Cup final to Oshawa in double overtime. He admits to remembering the sting of the end as much as the journey it took to get there, but that hasn’t diminished his enthusiasm for the Rangers today.
“Thanks, and Go Rangers Go!” McDonnell, who turned 65 this year, says before hanging up the phone after a conversation with 570 NewsRadio.
The sentiment is similar for former head coach Steve Spott, who fondly recalls his time in Kitchener, winning a Memorial Cup in 2003 and reaching the final in 2008. Even though he’s spent almost 15 years now in the NHL, coaching currently with the Boston Bruins, Spott never lets his eyes stray too far from Kitchener.
“We look forward to listening to (570 NewsRadio), and I really do wish the Rangers, the staff, the fans, the community all the best,” Spott says, as Kitchener tries for its third Memorial Cup trophy. “I just have so much respect and admiration for the program that we’re excited to watch (Sunday’s championship final), and it will be a lot less tense with a beer in my hand watching it than having to coach it.”
One of the most impactful players during Spott’s tenure with the Rangers was former captain Gabriel Landeskog. He spent only two years in Kitchener before being drafted by the Colorado Avalanche and becoming one of the youngest captains in NHL history. Twelve seasons and a Stanley Cup later, Landeskog has not forgotten his junior hockey roots.
“I don’t think I’d be anywhere near the person or the player that I am today if I didn’t spend my two years there in Kitchener,” Landeskog told Hockey Night in Canada earlier this month. “Steve Spott, Steve Bienkowski, Troy Smith, Paul Fixter, they took great care of me. I was a lost little puppy coming over from Sweden at (age) 16.”
Even during his own Stanley Cup playoff run with Colorado, Landeskog was still scoreboard watching as the Kitchener Rangers were on their way to winning their first OHL championship in 18 years, sweeping the Barrie Colts in four games.
“Congrats to the Rangers; I should shout that out as well,” Landeskog said to Hockey Night’s national audience. “Congrats to the Rangers and that whole place. I’m happy to see it. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.”
It’s a phrase we hear often around the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Maybe it’s true after all.
Kitchener Rangers:
