Regardless of who's in net for the Mississauga Steelheads, scoring on the goaltending tandem of Joe Ranger and Roman Basran has been a challenge this season.
Ranger has the best save percentage and the lowest goals-against average in the Ontario Hockey League, and Basran has the second lowest GAA. Both are self-effacing, chalk ingtheir success up to the defensive schemes of Steelheads head coach James Richmond and team unity.
"I think it's just a reflection on how well our team has been playing and how our coach has been has been coaching,'' said Ranger, who has a 2.10 GAA with a .924 save percentage. "It just shows that regardless of who's in net and who we play against we always have the same game plan every single night.
"We always play a great defensive game and we always play really well together.''
Mississauga leads the OHL's Central Division, two points ahead of the North Bay Battalion heading into play Wednesday night. The Steelheads have allowed the fewest goals in the league (139) and the third-best penalty kill (84 per cent).
Basran said that Mississauga's success is because everyone has bought into Richmond's defence-first philosophy.
"The playstyle of our team is not run and gun, right? Like, we're more we're more of a defence-style team. That's the way we win games,'' said Basran, who has a 2.56 GAA. "We're not going to win a lot of games going 5-4, 6-5. We're going to win 2-1, 3-2.
"The boys know that. That's what we've got to play.''
Goalie coach Chris Beckford-Tseu has emphasized the importance of consistency for both Ranger and Basran. He does this by doing game-type drills at practice and having his charges focus on taking things a day at a time.
"They've had a lot of success and they deserve every bit of it,'' said Beckford-Tseu. "They just have to stay focused because at the end of the day, as a goalie especially, you're only as good as your last game right? So just stick with it.''
It's clear that Beckford-Tseu's lessons about focus and consistency have rubbed off on the two goalies.
"Everyone in the league can have a good game, right? What about doing that 68 times in a year plus playoffs?'' Basran asked rhetorically. "You have to be showing up every game.
"Even if you have one slip up or two slip ups — which everybody will have, even Carey Price will have those days — you have to be a pro and come back at the next game.''
When asked about his personal aspirations Ranger instead spoke about staying present in the moment.
"The only thing that we're focusing on right now, for example, is our game on Friday (against the Hamilton Bulldogs), and practice and getting better and doing the right things,'' said Ranger. "It's definitely exciting (to lead the OHL statistically) and it's cool to have, but we always kind of think that it means nothing unless the next game is just as good.''
Basran played his first four seasons of major junior hockey in the Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets before heading east when Mississauga claimed the overage goalie off waivers on Oct. 4.
The two goalies became fast friends, sitting together in the locker room and hanging out together outside the arena.
"It's been like a seamless transition,'' Ranger said of Basran's arrival after training camp. "We have the same goals, we like the same things. We talk all day and it's just been awesome.
"It doesn't feel like we're forced to talk to each other, we just have fun.''
There is one aspect of life on the Steelheads where the two goalies part company: ping-pong.
Steelheads assistant coach Jeff Kyrzakos has created a power rankings of the ping-pong players on the team — defenceman Kasper Larsen is No. 1 — and Ranger is in the top 10.
"I started out at fifth and I slipped a little bit to seventh but I'm on my way back up,'' said the 20-year-old Ranger. "But Kasper, Max (Dodig) and Aiden Prueter are definitely the top three.''
Basran, on the other hand, rarely steps up to the ping-pong table.
"These guys, they're so competitive, they've been playing on the table for so long,'' said Basran, who insists he can hold his own against an average player. "I know I'm going to get my butt kicked in it. So I'd rather just not play if I know I'm going to lose.''
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