In building
his teams, former Pembroke Lumber Kings Head Coach Sheldon Keefe was known to
convince players to stay an extra year to make a run, especially in the
2011-2012 season when they pushed and won the RBC Cup Junior A national
championship. The Gloucester Rangers,
now in year three of their rebuild, haven’t been able to convince players to
stay behind as many have bolted for the ‘O’ or wanted out. The team below is my compilation of the best
junior-aged players that have donned the Rangers crest over the past few
seasons. Note how few of them are still
with the club.
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Forwards
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Remy Giftopolous
(OHL)
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Alexandre Boivin
(QMJHL)
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Nathan Pancel (OHL)
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Patrick White (OHL)
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Adam Lloyd
(OHL/CCHL)
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Jacob Jammes (OHL)
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Matthew Foget
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Eric Clitsome (CCHL)
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Andrew Abou-Assali
(OHL)
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Matthew Rosebrook
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Mason Nowak (OJHL)
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Keegan Rowe
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Scratches:
Daniele Disipio (CCHL), Chad Millett (CCHL)
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Defense
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Zack Leslie (OHL)
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Owen Stewart (OHL)
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Andrew Rossy (CCHL)
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Colton Keuhl
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Liam Murray (OHL)
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Riley Bruce (OHL)
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Goaltenders
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Douglas Johnston
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Gunner Rivers (CCHL)
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While the
players aren’t in their own particular positions (left wing or centre, for
example), the team assembled above, from either Rangers picks or players who
have played for them, would be a decent OHL team or an absolutely stellar CCHL
team. With a lineup like this, a serious
run could be made for a national championship.
There are
two points to this article, the first is that junior hockey is difficult
because players personalities and pressure from parents and others (OHL teams,
for example) make them want to press further and abandon the teams that put so
much into them like Coach Favreau and his staff. This isn’t helped when team management makes
counterintuitive decisions and there has been a certain amount of that within
the Rangers organization.
The other
point, the main one, is that the organization is an excellent judge of
talent. Among their scouts is the unique
Frank Barrette who found a lot of these players and pushed for their
selection. On top of that, he is greatly
entertaining in the role of play-by-play man for the Rangers and someone I
would consider a mentor in my learning about hockey.
Cheers to
the team and players that gave me so much over the two years I was there! Feel free to discuss my selections.
