RANGERS PREVIEW - March 11th through 13th
Rangers Teams Hit the Ice for Playoff Action
TEWKSBURY, MA -- We've reached the biggest weekend of the season, as both Rangers hit the ice for playoff action. The Premier team hosts the Vermont Lumberjacks in the First Round of the EHL Playoffs, while the 19U Elite team heads north for the conference Round Robin.
"Each team is prepared and ready to go," said Rangers Premier head coach Rich DeCaprio. "The Premier team has a tough matchup with the Vermont Lumberjacks, while the Elite team has an equally as difficult challenge in front of them."
PREMIER PREVIEW
The Premier team is home for their entire first round matchup with the Vermont Lumberjacks, due to Eastern Hockey League's '125-mile' rule. The higher seed will host all the games for a playoff series, if the distance between the two rinks is 125 miles or greater.
In the regular season, the Rangers came away victorious in three of the four matchups, with all three of those wins decided in extra time. A pair of overtime victories, and a shootout victory give the Rangers the edge heading into the first round. Keep in mind though, the last regular season matchup of the season resulted in a 4-0 win for Vermont.
The Lumberjacks are a tough, gritty, and hard to play against team that is coached well be Doc DelCastillo.
19U ELITE PREVIEW
For the Elite team, the weekend has already started off on an interesting note. The Rangers and New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs began play on Saturday morning, but had to delay the game in the 2nd period due to pour ice conditions. The team will now reset and face-off with the Vermont Lumberjacks and New England Wolves on Sunday.
The matchup with the Monarchs will be played Monday if necessary, and a round robin champion for the North Conference has yet to be determined.
