Johnathan Scwarcz
Castlegar Rebels had a disappointing final result to its Friday, Oct. 30 match at the the Castlegar Complex Arena with visiting team the Columbia Valley Rockies.
The final score was 4-3 in favour of the Rockies. But the Rebels pulled out all the stops in the second and third period of the game as they strove to overcome a two-goal lead that the Columbia Valley team had established in the first period.
The Rockies put two goals on the scoreboard in the first four minutes of play. But Rebels Darren Medeiros responded to the challenge sinking a shot at the ten minute mark assisted by Chance Szott and Nick Headrick.
The Columbia Valley team however stretched their lead back to two with 7:50 on the clock with a power play goal.
Micheal Cardinal scored for the Rockies, giving him his second point of the game.
The Rebels came out rocking in the second period and had some closely missed goals.
Some nice pushes to the net by Carson Wornig and Tayden Woods kept the game exciting. Vance Bitonti finally put the puck in the net, beating the Rockies’ goalie Connor Mckay on a breakaway opportunity with only five minutes left in the second period.
The third period was filled with hard hitting hockey and plenty of penalty minutes as the two teams battled it out.
The Rockies scored on a power play five minutes into the third with a goal by Malcolm Fenelon assisted by Micheal Cardinal and Donoven Quintin. However the Rebels hit back hard dominating the play.
Carson Wornig was given a game misconduct eight minutes into the third period after using Rockies Luke Bellerose as a punching bag behind the Rebels net.
The Castlegar Rebels Ed Lindsey after many close calls with the Rockies net scored with less than five minutes left in the game, assisted by Tyler Barrett.
The Rebels’ Assistant Coach was reflective after the loss.
“They came out a lot harder than us in the first period and let them get out to a 3 – 1 lead. It was an uphill battle from the start. That’s what happens when you don’t come out ready to go. Their goalie played really well.
“We got to give them all the credit in the world. They came out ready to play and we didn’t. We battled to the end and made it interesting. We had plenty of scoring opportunities, but you can say it just wasn’t our night.
“That was the positive we took out from it. We got character in that dressing room. You are not going to be able to walk all over us, we will be battling to the end of the game.”
The Castlegar Rebels remain in second place two points behind the Beaver Valley Nitehawks in the Neil Murdoch division of the KIJHL after 17 games.
The Rebels play five games on the road starting Nov. 3 with Spokane and then onto the Okanagan to play Osoyoos and Summerland, Kimberly and Beaver Valley before the next home game at the Castlegar Complex Saturday Nov.14 with Beaver Valley.
