Rangers and Spitfires in Round 1

By CityNews Staff

There were aspirations of fifth place.

That seems so long ago now. The Kitchener Rangers go into the Ontario Hockey League playoffs as the lowest seed in the Western Conference.

Kitchener came into the weekend with a chance at fifth place, but after the collapse against Flint and a short-handed roster to wrap the regular season, the Blueshirts fell to the final playoff spot.

In the final game of the year, in London against the Knights, Kitchener sat Filip Mesar, Francesco Pinelli, Lleyton Moore, and Roman Schmidt.

They dressed only five defencemen, one of which was Blair Scott, who spent the season with the Ayr Centennials in the GOJHL.

The Knights smashed the Rangers 5-1, to take the season-series by the same score. The lone goal-scorer for Kitchener was overager Reid Valade.

The loss to London paired with Owen Sound's win in Saginaw sets up the Windsor-Kitchener first round.

The Spitfires are the defending Western Conference Champions, and finished atop the West this regular season.

Windsor eliminated the Rangers in Round 2, last year when Kitchener was the seventh seed.

Game 1 and 2 are in Windsor, Thursday and Saturday, before the series shifts back to East Ave on Tuesday and Thursday. 

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