On a snowy Wednesday evening, the Kitchener Rangers made the short trip up Highway 7 to meet up with their division rival Guelph Storm.
There was no shortage of fireworks in this one, starting with a fight off the opening faceoff, five goals in the second period creating a tie game headed into the final frame, where another three goals were scored before the Rangers walked away with a 5-4 victory, which leaves one game left in the season series between these two rivals.
There’s a lot to take away from this spirited mid-week rivalry affair. Let’s talk about it.
O’Reilly & Beauchesne Ejected for Staged Fight
In recent memory, the Highway 7 rivalry has been fairly one-sided, with the Rangers having a 28-11-1-0 record against the Storm over the last five seasons heading into Wednesday night. However, the results don’t necessarily reflect the excitement of the games between these two teams.
Often fast, physical, and chippy, it’s expected that a fight or two may break out when these two rivals meet up. But I don’t think anyone could have anticipated how this one kicked off with Sam O’Reilly, a first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers who is now a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, and Quinn Beauchesne, a Pittsburgh Penguins prospect, dropping the gloves eight seconds after the opening faceoff.
While both benches seemed somewhat confused on why the two were being sent back to the locker room, Rule 46.16 of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) rulebook clearly states “If a player or players should enter into a fight, prior to, at the drop of the puck or immediately following any faceoff during the game, then such player(s) shall be assessed an automatic game misconduct in addition to any penalties assessed.”
Now, you can debate the term “immediately following” all you want, but to me, circling and jawing at one another for eight seconds before dropping the gloves doesn’t clear you of the “immediately following,” nor does it look less staged.
Regardless, with a team like the Storm, who were 28 points behind the Rangers entering last night’s contest, there’s no need to engage in any of their crowd-pleasing antics. This is a team the Rangers have dominated all season. There were certainly fans showing up at the Sleeman Centre thinking they were in for a long night, but a fight off the opening draw takes all that pessimistic energy out of the building and just brings out the passion in the home crowd.
Alexander Bilecki Draft Stock Must Be Rising
To open the scoring Wednesday night, Alexander Bilecki was watching a puck battle from behind the Storm’s net. As the Rangers built pressure, the Storm collapsed to the front of the net, and as Bilecki saw that, he crept into the slot and found open ice to receive a pass from Weston Cameron, which he made no mistake with a quick release to find the back of the net.
Bilecki’s offensive awareness has been extremely impressive since training camp. With his goal, Bilecki is up to nine on the season and has 17 helpers for 25 points.
Currently, per Puck Preps’ analytics, Bilecki has some of the best underlying metrics per 60 minutes at five-on-five in the OHL, earning a 95 overall rating that ranks tied for 8th among all OHL defensemen (from Puck Preps, Player Cards, Feb 26, 2026).
Bilecki has been an excellent two-way presence, ranking in the 97th percentile league-wide in net expected goals. Much of this can be attributed to his ranking in the top six percent of the league in expected goals, shot quality, and slot passes per 60 minutes at five-on-five, but he also does a good job of shutting down plays at the other end, ranking in the 85th percentile in takeaways.
Now, regardless of what you make of advanced analytics, if nothing else, they show that when Bilecki is on the ice, he makes positive things happen. Given a lack of opportunity to put up eye-popping numbers, with how stacked the Rangers’ blue line is. I think that, as more eyes are on the Rangers in the playoffs, Bilecki will surge up some draft rankings.
Rangers Refuse to Lose
By no means did the Rangers play poorly; they dominated the chances with 36 shots, while allowing only 19, which was not far off their recent average. The only reason this game was so close last night was a couple of costly defensive breakdowns that we don’t typically see from this team.
Mix those in with a goal from Carter Stevens, where you just have to tip your cap to the shot, and maybe one Christian Kirsch might like back, which you can definitely live with after his recent performances. It was just one of those nights where things weren’t coming easily, and that happens from time to time over the course of the regular season.
Related: Kitchener Rangers’ Goaltending Has Alleviated Any Preseason Concerns
Regardless, the Rangers battled the whole night. After the Storm had flipped the script, scoring back-to-back goals after Bilecki’s opener, Jack Pridham scored his 37th of the season to get the Rangers back square, but Tyler Hopkins responded for the Storm 17 seconds later.
The Rangers battled back to even with just under five minutes left in the second period to tie the game 3-3. Then, early in the third, the Storm took the lead again, leaving Hopkins wide open on the doorstep for his second of the night. At this point, some teams would have shut down and just given in when things weren’t going their way.
But when given an opportunity on the man advantage, Dylan Edwards potted his second of the game, which preceded Christian Humphreys’ game-winner, which came just over two minutes after the Rangers re-tied the game for the third time.
After the opener, Humphreys factored in on all four of the other Rangers’ goals with a goal and three assists, which brings him up to 78 points, three behind the league lead. Edwards was right behind him with two goals and a primary assist on the game-winner. Pridham had another multipoint night; he and Edwards are tied with 76 points.
While this has been the case many times this season, this was a particularly gutsy effort with a depleted forward group from the opening puck drop.
