Squirt Grey Sabres beats Rangers

The Squirt Grey Sabres and the Squirt Rangers faced off at the Pepsi Center on Sunday, Nov. 5.

It was the season opener for both teams and the fans and players were anxious and excited. The Gray Sabres skated away with an 8-3 win after a hard fought and extremely well-played game.

The Gray Sabres had their skating legs as they peppered Ranger goalie Tim Fremming with shot after shot. Antonio Zendano found the back of the net for his first of three goals on a nice passing play with assists to Emma Hubert and Austin Maciok.

Three minutes later Justin, JB, Beck banged home a rebound with assists to Benjamin Lackner and Connor Koester. Two minutes later, it was Katelyn Koester finding the back of the net, assisted by Angelo Derossi and Peter Gossels. The Rangers rallied and by the end of the first period, the Sabres knew they were in for a game.

The second period began like the first with the Sabres scoring 25 seconds into the period. Antonio Zendano scored his second goal with assists to Marc Giangreco and Brian Kowalski.

The Rangers roared back on fantastic individual effort by Bradley Hejmanowski who roofed a shot over Sabres goalie Joe Burke. The Rangers second goal followed about two minutes later as Jason Raymondi scored with assists going to David Hnat and Alex Morris. Raymondi controlled play and had numerous opportunities from his defensive position.

The Rangers brought the score to within one as Mickey Evans beat Burke to the stick side with assists to Stephen Swiatek and Ryan Mikulec. Momentum shifted to the Sabres just before the end of the period as Joe Arias beat the goalie cleanly with assists to Katelyn Koester and Gabe Jewula. That goal was followed 40 seconds later by a goal from JB Beck with assists from Benjamin Lackner and Emma Hubert.

The Sabres continued to pressure the Rangers in the third period. Both goalies stood on their head making save after save. Austin Maciok scored on a fantastic play as he deked the goalie and buried a shot. He was assisted by Kowalski and Gossels. Antonio Zendano completed his hat trick with assists from Gossels and Arias. Jack Cooper, while not on the score sheet, kept the Rangers forwards in check all afternoon and cleared any stray rubber from in front of Burke.

The Rangers played with a lot of pride. Darren Geska, Michael Battaglia, Matthew Soos, Nicholas Molnar, Jake Fuzak, and John Tomczak played hard and extremely well in the loss. No Ranger player quit and all gave their best efforts.