CARDINAL – It took four games but the South Grenville Rangers punched their ticket into the second round of the National Capital Junior Hockey League playoffs. The Rangers entered the weekend tied with the Almonte Inferno in the series 1-1.

South Grenville and Almonte were scoreless in the first period of game three on March 4 in Cardinal, and tied 2-2 at the end of the second period. The game broke open in the third period with the Rangers scoring three goals in six minutes, two on the power play, to win the game 5-2. Vincent Busseau scored twice, with Adam Chouinard, Aidan Bailey, and Noah Penney scoring once each in the win.

The series moved to the Valley Sunday evening (March 5) where the Rangers held the Inferno to a 2-0 shut out win.

South Grenville captain Nate Medaglia scored late in the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The teams were scoreless in the second period and most of the third. Bailey scored an empty net goal with 19 seconds remaining.

Rangers’ goalie Andrew Cristea earned his first junior career playoff shut out with the win against the Inferno.

The Rangers now await the conclusion of the Morrisburg/Clarence and Gatineau/Vankleek Hill playoff series on March 8 to discover their second round opponents.

Phillip Blancher, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Morrisburg Leader