Less than 24 hours after pouring their hearts into a dramatic overtime victory against rivals Catholic Central, the Rangers had to get back on the ice against the Bulldogs of Grandville. Ranger seniors Jack Bowling and Nicko Withey knew that there was no down time during their final season on the ice, and they planned on capitalizing every chance they got. It was a Withey-Bowling connection that gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead on the Bulldogs with 7:01 left in the 2nd period.

“A lot of us were banged up and exhausted going into Saturday’s game,” Jack said. “We had to be mentally tough to face adversity and get the win.”

The Rangers finished off the Bulldogs when Nick Sargeant scored an open goal with 21 seconds remaining. The final score was 4-1, and the Rangers improved to 12-2-1 overall. FHC is now atop the conference ranks with a 3-0 conference record.

Head coach Kevin Zaschak knew that going into the second game in a short time period is dangerous, and he made sure that his guys stayed focused.

“It’s definitely a trap game,” Zaschak said. “We were tired. We played 4 periods last night. Physically, we knew that our guys were exhausted, but mentally we told them to keep doing the little things right.”

Among the players injured were seniors Mackey Withey, Luke Heneveld, Nick Schipani, and junior Jacob Demeter.

Depth is what the Rangers are currently lacking, and they are looking for the younger guys to step up and fill roles. One non-senior who has made an impact over the last two seasons is junior Charlie Brewer. Charlie is a true play maker who will be leaned on until the Rangers get healthy. He believes that with the right preparation, these back-to-back games are manageable.

“After our first game, we eat a good meal and then get as much rest as possible,” Charlie said. “When we get up we go for jogs around the track, eat, and then rest before our second game.”

It’s these types of back-to-back hard fought wins that makes this team special. Zaschak feels that this team can make a run, but first, they need to get back to full strength.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Zaschak said. “We haven’t had a healthy lineup yet. Our goal short term is to get our guys healthy and to keep playing game to game trying to get better.”

For Jack, he thinks the sky’s the limit for this group of guys and hopes that they don’t slow down anytime soon.

“We have a special group of guys this year,” Jack said. “I think we have what it takes to go all the way this year.”

The Rangers look to keep things rolling in their next game against Reeths Puffer on Wednesday the 11th.