Kitchener Rangers sweep Windsor Spitfires in historic OHL series win

The Kitchener Rangers have become the only eighth-seed OHL team to sweep a first-round playoff series against the first-place team.

In front of a hometown crowd of 7,513 at Kitchener's Auditorium arena, the Rangers finalized the historic series upset with a dramatic 5-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires. 

The Rangers took a 3-1 lead into the third period and added two goals in the third to complete the scoring.

Kitchener's Mitchell Martin and Reid Valade each recorded a goal and an assist.

Rangers Goalie Marco Costantini was dominant in the series and now has a 4-0-0-0 record, 1.75 GAA, and 0.949 save percentage.

The victory marks the first time in Ontario Hockey League history that the eighth and final-placed team in the playoff round has ousted the first-place team in a first-round series sweep.

Rangers spokesperson Dominic Hennig said after the game in a media release that the team had either been in the lead or tied for all but five-and-a-half minutes in the entire series.

Part of Kitchener's strength, he told CBC before the game, was due to the fact that six Rangers have been signed and are set to move to NHL organizations. 

Kitchener now moves on to play the London Knights in the second round of the OHL playoffs. The schedule for those games was released Friday afternoon, and according to Hennig is:

If required, Games 5, 6 and 7 are scheduled for Thursday, April 20 in London, Sunday, April 23 in Kitchener and Tuesday, April 25 in London.