Rangers’ Damiani trusted to control Kyrou

With the best player in the Ontario Hockey League in town, the Kitchener Rangers trusted Riley Damiani.

The third-seeded Sarnia Sting were led into the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium by Jordan Kyrou’s 99 points in just 49 games Tuesday night.

The assignment to shutdown the player averaging over two-points-a-game was handed to the Rangers’ sophomore centre.

“I was pretty nervous actually,” said Damiani about hearing his line would be the one head coach Jay McKee and staff were trusting to play all night against Kyrou. “I was sitting up in the stands getting chills thinking about it.”

His line held Kyrou to just one assist, his 100th point of the season, and Kitchener stopped the Sting 6-3. The game though, was a lot closer than the score shows. The Rangers added their two insurance goals in the final two minutes.

The new look first line led the way offensively. Logan Brown surpassed the 200 career-point mark with two goals and two assists. His line-mates, Givani Smith (on his birthday) and Kole Sherwood each added three points. Rickard Hugg scored the game-winner, his first goal since December 28th.

The story though, was Damiani’s line.

“A lot of this game is on their shoulders,” said McKee. “Those guys killed some time in the O Zone and on the way back they were really committed to the back-check and the tracking.”

“It’s definitely a huge assignment,” said Damiani. who saw ice-time with numerous players, but most often with a combination of Nick McHugh, Greg Meireles and Adam Liska. “The nerves settle in pretty early, we shook it off, and kept our game simple.”

Damiani is hoping to build off the confidence he collected from containing Kyrou.

“It’s through the roof right now,” smiled Damiani after a walk out of the Rangers dressing room that would have had Vince McMahon envious. “To have my team trust me, to have my coaches trust me; it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

If everything falls the way it should in the Western Conference come playoff time, the Rangers and Sting would meet in the second round. Both teams showed they’re well aware. They also play each other three times in 15 days.

“It felt like playoff game,” said McKee. “That’s what you want to see. You want to play games like this when you have less than ten games to go.”

The Rangers are back at home Friday against Oshawa. Pregame is at 7 p.m.