Castlegar’s KIJHL junior squad added left-winger Evan Kite from White Rock (pictured below) to its line-up and Saturday November 23 was his first home game and win.
The game started with a goal for the Rocket’s at only 45 seconds into the first period by Tanner Watt (unassisted). But the Golden Rockets were quickly outshot and outplayed as the Rebels had three goals under their belts by the end of the period. Diego Bartlett scored twice (at 15:18 and10:50) assisted by Kody Disher for both (with assists also going to Matt Reed and Seth Schmidt).
Period one was clock full of penalties; a total of eight including roughing after the whistle to Rebels Matt Reed and Rockets Bowen Alcock with 9:50 left in the first period.
The second frame was dominated by the Rebels who scored three times by Jeremy McNeil (Ed Lindsey) at 15:23, Darren Medeiros his second (Chase Reddin) at 8:55 and Diego Bartlett ( Ed Lindsey and Kody Disher) with 7:20 to go to give him the hat-trick and put the Rebels into a comfortable 6-1 lead. The Rebels were outshooting and out-hustling the Rockets
Period three was somewhat controlled by the Rockets as they scored twice – Cole McKechney (Daniel Dahlin) and Michael Anderson (Ian Desrosier).
But their timing, and their ignition was off as the Rockets sputtered to a loss.
With the win the Rebels solidified their grip on third place in the Kootenay Conference’s Neil Murdoch Division. Castlegar trailed the Nelson Leafs (44 pts as of Sunday night) and Beaver Valley Nitehawks (32 pts). The Rebels enjoyed a cushion over the Grand Forks Border Bruins (23 pts) and the Spokane Braves (19 points).
Next up for the Rebels is a home game versus the North Okanagan (Armstrong) Knights this coming Saturday night at 7:30.
-By Derek Kaye, Castlegar News Contributor
