Rangers @ Generals - New Years Day

The Generals enter this traditional New Year’s Day matinee game against the Midwest Division leading Kitchener Rangers at the General Motors Centre this afternoon.

Tonight is Via Rail Night at the game as we ring in the New Year. Thousands of dollars in Via Rail gift certificates will be up for grabs throughout the game so make sure you are in your seats because it could be you.

Today marks the first meeting between these two teams this season as they will meet for their second and final meeting of the regular season on January 21st in Kitchener.

Both teams will be playing this game a little short handed as the Generals will be without Calvin de Haan who is currently away at the World Juniors and Scott Laughton who is away representing Ontario at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Winnipeg. The Rangers will be without Captain Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden), along with another top NHL Draft prospect in Tobias Rieder (Germany) as well as this year’s 1st round OHL draft pick Matia Marcantuoni while he represents Ontario at the Under 17’s.

The Generals will also be without Head Coach Chris DePiero behind the bench and defenceman Anton Zupancic as they serve the final game of two-game suspensions handed out by the League following an incident in the Niagara game.

The Generals have been on a two-game winning streak since returning from the Christmas break. They came away with a big 4-2 victory over the Niagara IceDogs on Wednesday before defeating the rival Peterborough Petes on Thursday on the road 6-4 in their final game of 2010.

Andy Andreoff had a monster game for the Generals scoring a hat trick along with two assists in a five point game. Peter Di Salvo was in between the pipes again for the Generals and was key for the team making some very big stops in his 40 save performance.

The Rangers are on a two-game win streak of their own following the holidays as they defeated the Windsor Spitfires 3-1 on Wednesday at home before travelling to Plymouth where they beat the Whalers 2-1 on Thursday. Sophomore defenceman Ryan Murphy has 2 goals and 3 points over the Rangers two game stretch.

Christian Thomas (25-20-45) continues to lead the way offensively for the Generals. Thanks to Thursday’s five-point night, Andy Andreoff (15-20-35) is now second in team scoring and is having a fine year for the Club. Boone Jenner (11-18-29) continues to put up good numbers in his draft year along with lots of grit and determination.

The Rangers posses some serious offensive threats, overage forward Jason Akeson (15-49-64) currently leads the League in scoring and is on a torrid pace in the assist department. Ryan Murphy (17-34-51) is showing why he is a high end prospect for this year’s NHL draft and leads all OHL blueliners in points.

Peter Di Salvo (2.61 GAA, .925 save %) has posted incredible numbers for the Generals since being acquired from the Colts in December. While the Generals have been riding Di Salvo’s hot streak lately, potentially look for Kevin Bailie (3.38 GAA, .885 save %) to get the start in today’s game against the non-conference opponent Rangers.

Colorado Avalanche prospect Brandon Maxwell (3.12 GAA, .911 save %) leads the way for the Rangers in between the pipes while Mike Morrison (2.85 GAA, .905 save %) has done a good job backing up Maxwell and is coming off a 48 save performance in the win over the Whalers Thursday.

Will be a tough matchup today, GO GENNIES!!! Barrie beat Ottawa yesterday

Way to go Gens!!!! Great way to spend a New Year's Day afternoon! Was particularly impressed with Andreoff and Jensen. And kudos to Hockeybeats. I LOVED the music today!! With the possible exception of Neil Diamond, but that's a personal thing :-)

ohagan wrote:Will be a tough matchup today, GO GENNIES!!! Hahaha Barrie beat Ottawa yesterday

I wouldn't get to cocky They beat us last time we met and we are playing them next Saturday.

Phoenix wrote:Way to go Gens!!!! Great way to spend a New Year's Day afternoon! Was particularly impressed with Andreoff and Jensen. And kudos to Hockeybeats. I LOVED the music today!! With the possible exception of Neil Diamond, but that's a personal thing :-)

Some people love Neil Diamond at a hockey game, some people hate it. I tried playing it in the intermission just to see what the reaction would be.

Way to go boys, nice 3 for 3 this week in the win column. With the 67's losing yesterday and today we are now in striking distance of 1st place in our division if we can win our games in hand. I wonder if Andreoff will be considered for player of the week having 9 pts in 3 games? Haha I hope I'm not being too cocky again!

ohagan wrote:Way to go boys, nice 3 for 3 this week in the win column. With the 67's losing yesterday and today we are now in striking distance of 1st place in our division if we can win our games in hand. I wonder if Andreoff will be considered for player of the week having 9 pts in 3 games? Haha I hope I'm not being too cocky again!

No but your coment previously was..

steamed wrote:

ohagan wrote:Way to go boys, nice 3 for 3 this week in the win column. With the 67's losing yesterday and today we are now in striking distance of 1st place in our division if we can win our games in hand. I wonder if Andreoff will be considered for player of the week having 9 pts in 3 games? Haha I hope I'm not being too cocky again!

No but your coment previously was..

Maybe in your opinion it was. How was it cocky? Because I said Haha? Anyhow, Happy New Year steamed, time for me to move on from this, have a good one.

I agree with steamed. The haha was unnecessary.

Anyway another good game by Di Salvo with a little help from the iron.

Andreoff should get a look for player of the week. There is no doubt he is the most improved player on the Gens this year.

I liked Lessio's game today as well. He is really coming along nicely as he adapts to the OHL. He gets stronger all the time.

Jensen has been on fire as well. He does many things well.

The Hahaha on that comment made it seem that no team should ever lose to Barrie. Newsflash...we did a couple weeks ago.

A great win this afternoon and nice to be so close to the division lead. Agree with all the thoughts on Andreoff, Jensen and Lessio. Andreoff set a career high this afternoon for himself for goals in a season, and the season is basically just half over. Well done to him.

The Gens brought some good physical play and it was good to hear the level of communication they had throughout the game. Jenner won key faceoffs early in the 2nd on the 5 on 3 that the Gens had to kill off. Nice to be 4 points back of the 67's now with 2 games in hand, and we get the chance to redeem ourselves on the 15th for the last time Ottawa was here. Fun times to be a Gens fan , too bad we have to wait until Thursday for the game against Guelph.

Liked hearing Requiem for a Dream, beats!

I think maybe everyone took Ohagan's post the wrong way, maybe he should have said yes Barrie beat Ottawa, in that they helped us by beating them . Lighten up folks!!

HA HA all you want. The GENS are on a winning streak and are playing the best hockey we've seen for a long time.

GENNY wrote: HA HA all you want. The GENS are on a winning streak and are playing the best hockey we've seen for a long time.

Without De Haan, which is similar to how we started our year....without De Haan. Not saying that he hurts us, but rather making a point of how we can win, and have won, without him. I would think he would be an attractive player for a few teams wanting to go far this year.

ohagan wrote:Will be a tough matchup today, GO GENNIES!!! Barrie beat Ottawa yesterday

I see you edited your HA HA HA

steamed wrote:

ohagan wrote:Will be a tough matchup today, GO GENNIES!!! Barrie beat Ottawa yesterday

I see you edited your HA HA HA

I've been attending cockyness management classes lately and my therapist recommended that i edit that post to help me overcome my problem.

ohagan wrote:

steamed wrote:

ohagan wrote:Will be a tough matchup today, GO GENNIES!!! Barrie beat Ottawa yesterday

I see you edited your HA HA HA

I've been attending cockyness management classes lately and my therapist recommended that i edit that post to help me overcome my problem.

That's a good reply I'm laughing so hard it hurts

LOL steamed, GO GENNIES!!!