It was the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds who hosted the Kitchener Rangers on October 9th, and the visitors took all three points with a 1-0 victory in the Ontario Hockey League. The result keeps the Greyhounds top of the table despite their solitary defeat of the season, while the Rangers climb away from the bottom half of the standings.
There were no goals until the decisive moment, and when the Rangers finally broke through, it felt like the shift had come. We had called for the away side to win, with 45 per cent confidence, and the match played out exactly as we expected. Kitchener were the ones who came for a cross they never reached, but eventually found the net when it mattered.
The Greyhounds have been running hot, winning six of seven games before this setback. They had beaten Flint 3-2 on October 3rd and followed it up with a 4-3 victory over Sarnia the next day. But on this evening, they switched off at a set piece and paid for it.
Kitchener's form has been harder to read. They lost 2-5 to Flint on October 7th and were hammered 6-0 by Guelph four days later, yet they had shown they could score against Saginaw and Kingston in between. By then, they were the ones who pulled the strings, even if only for a spell.
What the result means is straightforward. The Greyhounds remain first with seven games played, one loss, and zero points — the standings say nothing more than that yet. The Rangers sit sixth after nine games, four wins and five defeats, and this victory gives them something to build on.
