GLANBROOK (Dec. 4) -- The Glanbrook Rangers played their best overall team game of the season, an impeccable effort that led to a convincing 5-0 victory over the Hagersville Hawks.  

The Rangers used a high-intensity forecheck, opportunistic offence, more poise on defence than they've shown all season and flawless goaltending to keep their rivals for second spot in the Bloomfield Division on their heels all game. 

"We knew they were a fast and skilled team offensively," said Glanbrook centre Joel Wallace, who ignited the Rangers' attack with goals in each of the first two periods, his fifth and sixth of the campaign.  "We wanted to pepper their goalie with shots all game long and drive net for rebounds." 

Glanbrook put that strategy into effect from the outset, outshooting the Hawks 19-10 in the first period alone, firing up their physical play to keep the Hagersville defence off balance.  When the Hawks did attempt to generate some offence, the Rangers defenders were able to thwart their efforts, solidly backstopped by goaltender Mitch Robinson. who turned in a workmanlike 36-save performance to record his first shutout of the year. 

A spirited strategy such as the Rangers employed comes with risks, which came in the form of seven power-play opportunities for the Hawks.  But Glanbrook stood firm on all of them, and even used  their success as a catalyst, said Wallace.

"We played a full 60-minute game, which was nice to see," said the 19-year-old Hamilton native.   "We were highly successful on the penalty kill, which gave us momentum for even-strength play.  We were prepared and simply executed our game plan perfectly."

 The Rangers finished off their gem with three goals in the third period:  two by Cooper Hood (his third and fourth) and Sandy Ciccarelli's third of the season, continuing a trend in recent games in which they've been able to spread their offence around, rather than depending solely on top scorers Noah Bollert and Noah Matteson.  In this outing, Matteson was sidelined with an injury, and Bollert was held without a point. 

"We have some of the best forwards in the league ... we all know that," said Wallace.  "However, we can't rely on them every single game.  The secondary production has been helping a lot lately and with the tight group of guys that we have, the chemistry and familiarity are leading to production from all four lines." 

NOTES:  Defenceman Erik Nelson and forward Michael Dittrich joined Matteson on the sidelines for this game .... The Rangers widened their lead on Hagersville in the Bloomfield standings, opening up a three-point gap and closing to within two points of the frontrunning Grimsby Peach Kings. 

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