It was a downtrodden crew sporting dark blue Friday night at the Castlegar Community Complex.
The visiting Spokane Braves were dominated from start to finish in game one of their first round playoff series, falling 6-0 to the KIJHL’s regular season front-running Castlegar Rebels.
The shot total of 33-23 for the Rebels actually flattered the Braves given that they never threatened to penetrate the force field generated by net minder Jordan Gluck.
Even with an unusual seven-minute power play (set about by Castlegar’s Diego Bartlett heading to the showers with two for instigating, five for fighting and a game misconduct) they never came close. They say it takes two to tango, but in this case it took only one to fight.
The outcome of the game was never in doubt as a sparse gathering could only hope for the Gluck shut-out.
Opening up a 3-0 first period lead were Brenden Heinrich from Stuart Walton and Travis Wellman; Jamie Vlanich from Diego Bartlett and Heinrich; and Bryan Lubin from Walton.
After a scoreless second period the Rebels resumed their onslaught with another three: Darren Medeiros assisted by Aaron Petten and Braydon Horcoff; Hunter Jenerou from Vlanich and Aaron Brewer, then Medeiros again, from Petten and Jenerou.
The teams meet again Saturday night in Castlegar before heading to Spokane for games three and four.
Of keen interest to Rebels fans, at the Fruitvale Arena, the Visiting Nelson Leafs earned a 1-0 series lead by cruising to a 6-1 win over the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
