Kitchener Rangers win OHL’s Western Conference final in OT

The Kitchener Rangers celebrated after winning the OHL's Western Conference final in overtime on May 1, 2026. (Courtesy: FloHockey)

The Kitchener Rangers are the OHL’s 2026 Western Conference champions.

The Kitchener Rangers took on the Windsor Spitfires in front of a full house at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Friday night.

Windsor’s Anthony Cristoforo and Cole Davis opened up the scoring with two goals less than 20 seconds apart.

Two minutes later, Wyatt Kennedy tucked another one away for the Spitfires, giving them an intimidating 3 goal lead.

Luke Ellinas, who hadn’t suited up for Kitchener since Nov. 21, got the Rangers on the board with a goal in the first period. Christian Humphreys followed up to close the gap further by putting another one by Windsor’s netminder, Joey Costanzo, in the second period.

However, AJ Spellacy gave Windsor some more insurance 10 minutes later.

Things were looking dire for the Rangers as they headed into the third frame.

But the hometown faithful were treated to some late-game heroics by the Blueshirts as Sam O’Reilly and Carson Campbell each found the twine to pull even with Windsor.

After 12 scoreless minutes, the game headed into overtime.

With less than two-and-a-half minutes left in the extra frame Dylan Edwards found the back of the net, giving Kitchener the 5 – 4 win.

This is the first time the Rangers have hoisted the Wayne Gretzky trophy since 2008.

Next up, they’ll take on the winner of the Brantford Bulldogs and Barrie Colts series for OHL supremacy. The Bulldogs currently lead that series 3 - 2 with the next game set for Saturday night in Barrie.