Pair of ties put Rangers in precarious position

By Rick Volman

The Fort Rangers discovered the truth of the old sports adage that a tie is like kissing your sister: it depends on your outlook.

“I’d say this one is more like kissing a really hot step sister,” said Ranger forward Ty Bettac, after the club skated off the Jubilee Recreation Centre ice with one point from a 4-4 draw against the St. Albert Raiders, the second place club of the Alberta Midget Hockey League’s north division.

“We knew it would be a tough game, they’re always big rivals of ours and they’re a top team,” he said. “We felt we could beat them, but a tie against them is alright too.”

However, the next night, in a decisive division duel against the Knights of Columbus Pats, the Boston Pizza sponsored team left with one point after skating to a 6-6 draw.

Considering the Pats and the Rangers went into the game tied for the final spot on the playoff list, this kiss wasn’t nearly as sweet.

“Considering we were up 5-1 with eight minutes to go, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that,” said Rangers coach Levi Lypka.

“We got careless, we took selfish penalties, and we were not doing the right things that we needed to do to win,” Lypka said. “There was no reason for us to give away the game and that’s exactly what we did.”

While the point from the Raiders game could be considered a bonus, the draw against the Pats might quickly become a liability as the season draws to a close.

“They had the choice to either take the easy route or the hard route to get to the playoffs,” said Lypka.

“Now they’ve got to go up against the Leducs and Sherwood Parks of this league and try to perform in those games.

“That’s the decision they’ve made.”

Of the Rangers’ remaining five games, all but one are against teams ahead of them in the standings. The one sub .500 team they will face is but two points behind them and desperately trying to bump the Rangers from post season play.

“The job doesn’t get any easier the rest of the way,” Lypka said. “All our opponents have decent records.”

The Rangers hold the tie breaker over the Pats, but the KofC team has a game in hand over the Rangers. The Pats’ six-game schedule will see them play sub .500 teams twice.

As an extra incentive for the Pats, they’ll play their final two games of the season after the Rangers have closed the books on the 2011/2012 campaign.

“There are two ways this team can respond to the situation they’re in,” said Lypka of his team. “They can either completely combust or do the things they have to do to be successful.

“Everything comes down to their own decisions.”

The Rangers will take to the ice Saturday evening when they face the Sherwood Park Kings in an away game before lacing up against the Calgary Buffaloes for a Sunday afternoon date at the Jubilee Recreation Centre at 3 p.m.

“The Sherwood Park game will provide an early answer as to what direction this team wants to go,” said Lypka.