Oshawa Generals win on national TV; sweep weekend road games

The stars come out when the spotlight is on and draft-eligible Calum Ritchie and overager Ryan Gagnier of the Oshawa Generals certainly rose to the occasion Friday night at the Aud in Kitchener, with both stars picking up three points in a 5-2 win over the Kitchener Rangers before a national television audience on TSN.

Ritchie scored twice, with Gagnier chipping in a goal and two assists in the victory. Rookie Beckett Sennecke added a pair of assists with Kimo Gruber and Luke Torrance supplying the rest of the scoring in a match against former Generals’ captain Lleyton Moore, who was traded to the Rangers earlier this season.

Carter was sharp in the Oshawa goal making 32 saves as Kitchener outshot the Generals 34-19. The loss was Kitchener’s seventh straight.

The Generals made it three wins in a row – all on the road – with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Erie the next night in Jacob Oster’s debut between the pipes.

Luca Marelli scored in the first and after Erie tied it Oshawa scored three unanswered goals to cruise to the win. Stuart Rolofs made it 2-1 and Gagnier finished off a big weekend with two goals, including a short-handed marker and the final goal into an empty net, to give him a team-leading 42 points on the season.

Oster, acquired from the Guelph Storm earlier this month. made 26 saves for win #1 for Oshawa.

Oshawa (15-19-4) remains one point behind the Sudbury Wolves for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The club continues its road swing with games in Peterborough Thursday and Kingston Friday before returning home before returning home for a date with former General Brett Harrison and the Windsor Spitfires Sunday.