The first games of 2022 could not have gone any better for the Rangers of FHC, as they returned to the ice for their first live match of the new year.

To start the week for FHC, the Rangers traveled to square off against Lowell/Caledonia. Coming into the game, the men in green had a record of 4-5 and a conference record of 2-2. On the other hand, Lowell/Cal entered the game trying to achieve its first victory of the season.

In the first period, the Rangers would find a way to light up the back of the net and score six straight goals to open up the game. The lead would never be given up, as sophomore Peter Nemmers did not let up a goal all night in FHC’s 8-0 victory. Goals throughout the night were scored by seniors Sheldon Ramsey, Lucas Jeffreys, and Josh Smith, juniors Sammy Mielock and Anthony Ott, and sophomore John Rocco.

This was the highest amount of goals scored all season by the Rangers; head coach Bill McSween could not have been any more proud of his boys.

“What pleased me the most on Friday was we generated offense by playing great defense,” spoke coach McSween. “We had our season-low with turnovers and kept our shifts short. We scored 4 times off line changes and that is a good sign for the future.”

Turning over to Saturday night, FHC would face off at home against Jenison in a tightly-held match. In the second period, both teams would find ways to hit the net, as Ott scored another goal to add on to his huge weekend.

Junior Justin Beahr stayed strong in net the whole game even when the going got tough. Out of all 19 shots Justin faced, he only let in 0ne during the second period. In the third period, the Rangers would look for the go-ahead, game-winning goal.

That’s when Anthony stepped up to put another shot behind the net to hit his third of the weekend.

The Rangers would end this game victorious with a 2-1 victory over the Wildcats. After having such a good performance the day before on offense, Coach McSween was even more ecstatic to see what came from his defense the next night.

“We played well defensively all weekend,” Coach McSween said. “We gave up 1 goal in 2 games and we will be tough to beat if we keep that up.  I thought Saturday we were not as sharp, but we were still able to keep our D structure and our penalty kill was awesome!”

The Rangers will now move to a record of 6-5 with conference play continuing to pick up throughout the month. Next for the Rangers is two of their last non-conference opponents with a game on January 15 versus Grand Rapids Catholic Central and a game on January 19 versus Kenowa Hills.