Hurley's natural hat trick keeps Mite Rangers unbeaten

William Mann, Jason Koginos, and Alex Streng took turns sending Ranger forward Brennan Hurley away down the middle of the ice and Hurley did the rest, scoring three nearly identical goals for a natural hat trick which led the Rangers to a 4-1 victory on Sunday over the Black Sabres in a battle of Mite unbeatens.

While both teams played a tactically strong, technically efficient, close checking game, the Rangers (now 7-0 on the season) wore down the Black Sabres (now 6-1-1) as the contest wore on.

The game was scoreless through the first eight minutes, but then Koginos sent away Mann with a perfect pass and Mann scored five-hole to give the Rangers the lead. Thirty seconds later, Daniel Mosher tied the game for the Black Sabres, but that was the only puck that would elude Ranger goaltender Michael Kreuz as the Rangers began to take over the game.

The Rangers played suffocating team defense throughout the game, and Kreuz stood tall in the net to eliminate chances the Black Sabres were able to muster.

Black Sabre netminder Nick Carbone also played exceptionally well, making strong saves on Patrick Greeley, Cameron Kiefer, Chris Dirienzo and Matt Cohen to keep his team in the game. At one point, Ranger playmakers Dirienzo, Cohen and Jonathan Phillips broke through the defense and went in on goal three-on-none but Carbone kept the puck out of the net.

But he couldn't stop Hurley. With five minutes left in the second period, Mann hit Hurley with a perfect pass through the neutral zone and Hurley turned on the jets, scoring his first of the game to give the Rangers back the lead.

Later in the period, Koginos hit Hurley with another perfect lead pass and Hurley sped away again. Carbone made a great save, but Hurley followed up and put home his own rebound to give the Rangers a two-goal lead.

Hurley got his hat trick with eight minutes remaining in the contest, with assists from Streng and Mark Venditti, to extend the Ranger lead to 4-1, and the Rangers put the clamps on the Black Sabres the rest of the way.

Although he did not get onto the score sheet, Ranger center Patrick Rosen played perhaps the best game of his career, controlling play in the neutral zone and playing defense with reckless abandon. Austin Stanley also played a particularly energetic game, hustling back hard and diving to break up a dangerous pass in front of the Ranger net.

Ryan Arrastia, Jake Kantor, and Drew Elliott also had very strong games to help the Rangers remain perfect.

Browne's goaltending heroics not enough,

Mite Rangers win 5-4

The Mite Rangers continued their winning ways with a 5-4 victory over the White Sabres on Dec. 30 at the Amherst Pepsi Center, but the star of the show was unquestionably White Sabre goaltender Jeffrey Browne. Browne made a bushel full of saves you had to witness to believe.

The Rangers outshot the White Sabres, 25-6, in the contest, but solved Browne just enough to eek out the win and remain unbeaten.

Ranger stalwarts Chris Dirienzo, Matt Cohen, and Michael Kreuz all scored in the game's opening minutes, but Browne put on a show after that, nearly willing his team to victory.

The Rangers started the scoring just over a minute into the game when Dirienzo and Cohen broke in two-on-zero, giving Browne essentially no chance, as Dirienzo smartly used Cohen as a decoy and fired a laser into the net to give his team the early lead.

Just a minute later, Ranger defenseman Brennan Hurley's perfect outlet pass sent away Kreuz and William Mann on another two-on-zero break, and Kreuz buried the puck into the corner of the net to make it 2-0.

Zack Suroweic cut the Ranger lead in half, but shortly after, Cohen and fellow Ranger Drew Elliott outfought several White Sabres for a loose puck in the neutral zone and Cohen wheeled in and took a shot from a nearly impossible angle that snuck in just inside the far post, giving the Rangers their two-goal cushion back.

The second period was all Browne as he denied Ranger scoring chance after scoring chance. Just 40 seconds into the period, Ranger forward Jason Koginos broke in on goal but Browne stoned him. A couple of minutes later, Browne robbed Patrick Greeley of what appeared to be a sure goal.

Shortly after that, he made a miraculous save on Ranger defenseman Alex Streng, who broke in on goal all alone. Browne got some help from his teammates as well. Defenseman Sam Kinerk dove to block yet another scoring chance in front of the net after Ranger defenseman Ryan Arrastia took a cross ice pass from fellow defenseman Jonathan Phillips and found Cohen in the slot.

Then as the second period wound down, the White Sabres closed the gap again. With time ticking away, White Sabre forward Suroweic alertly jumped on a loose puck and scored his second of the game with just 5.8 seconds remaining in the period to bring his team to within a goal with one period to play.

The third period proved to be more of the same. The Rangers peppered Browne with more than a dozen shots, and it took a sensational individual effort by Streng to restore the Rangers' two-goal lead for the third time in the contest.

After strong passes from Patrick Rosen and Mann got the puck out of the Rangers' zone, Streng blazed in on goal only to have Browne make yet another fabulous save, but Streng stayed with the play and popped in his own rebound to make the score 4-2.

Just one minute after Streng extended the Ranger lead, White Sabre forward Brady Kyle brought his team back to within one goal yet again with plenty of time to play.

The Rangers got their two-goal lead back with just under eight minutes to play but only after another incredible series of saves by Browne, who robbed Kreuz twice in succession before Mann could slide the puck just under the goaltender's outstretched glove.

Browne stopped two more Streng breakaways to keep his team in the game and Kyle scored his second of the game with just 14 seconds left to bring the White Sabres to within a goal yet again.

Neither team could gain control of the puck in the frantic waning seconds of the game and when the final buzzer sounded, the Rangers' faithful breathed a collective sigh of relief as their team escaped with their record still untarnished.