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BJR WEEKLY PREVIEW - January 5th

By BJR STAFF, 01/05/17, 7:00AM EST

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Both Rangers Teams Return to Action Against the Wolfpack

TEWKSBURY, MA -- For some teams the holiday break comes at perfect time, while there are other teams that would prefer to just keep rolling along. For the Rangers, the holiday break came with pros and cons. The pros include a chance to regroup and heal up from the first half of the season, while the cons start with the Premier team's current six-game winning streak.

"It's definitely a challenge for the guys," said Rangers Premier head coach Rich DeCaprio. "Our Premier guys won 7 of our 8 games in December, and 5 of them came in either overtime or a shootout. The hope is that the team can pick up where they left off, and shake any rust off very quickly."


The Rangers are currently the #5 seed in the North Conference, but with 20 games left to play, that number will most likely change down the stretch.

Ryan Blair's 19U Elite team is in a similar spot.

"The break served as the same for the Elite guys," said Blair. "We were struggling with 3 straight losses, and then won both games at the December showcase. I've told the guys that the key is to take the momentum of that weekend, right into Saturday night."

This week's BJR schedule includes just one game for each team.

PREMIER ::: Rangers vs. Wolfpack - 1/7/17 (6:00pm)

Saturday night's matchup with the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack is the first of the season between the two teams, with the other contest taking place at the final showcase of the year.

The Wolfpack have endured an up and down season that brings them into this game with a record of 11-15-2, good for 6th place in the South Conference.

The key player that the Rangers will have to keep an eye on is the Wolfpack's Captain, Shane Visnick. The '96 forward from Florida is the team's leading scorer with 32 points in 28 games this season. Visnick was especially hot heading into the break with 16 points in his last 10 games.

19U ELITE ::: Rangers vs. Wolfpack - 1/7/17 (9:00pm)

Just like the Premier team, the 19U Elite team is set to face-off against the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack. The only difference from the Premier teams however, is that these two teams have hit the ice once already this season.

Back on October 16th, the Rangers played a full 60 minutes and went on to a 8-1 victory over Hartford. There were 11 different players that tallied at least a point in that game, and Coach Blair is looking for another consistent group effort throughout the lineup.


Follow the Rangers all season long on social media -- Facebook - Twitter - Instagram, and watch every game live through HockeyTV.