The Castlegar Rebels proved they can play it tight and structured or loose and wide-open to deliver impressive wins.
First, they shut out the red-hot Kimberley Dynamiters 5-0 Friday night in a strategic gem, and then Saturday hit the pond for some old-time, baseball-hats backward goalscoring to rout the Golden Rockets 9-2 to round out a successful weekend in KIJHL action at the Castlegar Complex.
Rebels captain Vince Bitonti and forward Shawn Campbell led the way with two goals and an assist. Edward Lindsey had two goals. Chris Breese had a goal and two helpers. Jordan Wood and Evan Della Paolera added singles. Everett Hicks had four assists. Rebels goalkeeper Curt Doyle was steady all game, stopping 23 of 25 shots.
Saturday night’s game didn’t start out as a pond-hockey romp. Castlegar was not getting zone penetration in the first period by following the playbook, so they threw that out.
READ MORE: Castlegar Rebels shut out Kimberley Dynamiters 5-0
“For both sides, it was a pretty open game. The game [Friday] was a lot more structured. In the first period when we were trying to play with structure and with the Xs and Os we were struggling, so we kind of gave them the green light to have some fun and open it up a bit and it worked out all right,” Rebels head coach and general manager Bill Rotheisler said after Saturday’s rousing offensive showing.
That offensive push came from taking care of things in their own end. Despite a relentless two-man forecheck from Rockets’ forwards, the Rebels showed patience and effective puck support to enable a consistent breakout.
“We really stress with our centremen that it takes three people to break out. Even watching Golden on video, they send two guys in pretty hard. You’re only going to beat that if you have both of your D and your centreman back helping the breakout. Those first passes are so important to break past those two forecheckers,” Rotheisler said.
In the second period, the Rockets found some success on the stretch pass up the middle to create breakaways or near breakaways. The Rebels managed to tighten their zone coverage, and actually counter-punched with a stretch pass gem that led to the backbreaking 4-2 goal by Jordan Wood.
Golden’s pressure often included their power forwards laying on the lumber with borderline slashes on the forecheck. The Rebels managed to ignore most of that attack and avoid the penalty box on retaliation calls.
“We had some real issues with that at the beginning of the year, so honestly having it as bad as it was at the beginning of the year kind of allowed us a mechanism to deal with it early,” Rotheisler noted. “The boys at this point know that, for instance, if you take a 10 [minute misconduct], you sit. There’s a certain discipline structure that everybody knows and nobody takes it personally.”
The Rebels utilized excellent movement and position to score several three-way passing-play goals, including two on the powerplay. The coach says that comes from making quick first reads.
“I think we’re not telegraphing it as much. I think we have a lot of talent on the team. When you put five guys on the ice with that much time and space, sometimes they can be like a deer in the headlights. We really worked this week on making the first choice, whether it’s the right or wrong one, and they’re talented enough that their first choice is usually the right one,” Rotheisler said.
The Rebels made a lot of the critical “little plays” like chip-outs and neutral zone passes that cumulatively led to Grade A scoring chances.
“We call it filling the bucket — Grade A chances. You try to get as much of that as you can going and eventually it tips and you get what you need. They really buy into that,” Rotheisler said.
“The way we say it in the room is we don’t want to be a one and done team. On the rush, if we get a good chance, we don’t want to be backchecking right away. If we get a shot from the outside and it’s not a Grade A, we need to be creating a battle right away to maintain possession so we’re not just one shot or one chance and then backchecking.”
Coaches often talk about game-planning and execution, and when you get both rolling, it demonstrates the value of believing in the system and working hard to see it through on the ice. For the Rebels, the recognition actually came in a tough loss.
“The last three games are the best three games I’ve seen them play in two years. It’s odd, the turning point was the game we played in [Beaver Valley]. We lost 5-3 but we outplayed them and outshot them by quite a margin and our guys realized that and knew that so it gave our guys the confidence,” Rotheisler said.
That commitment to the team’s systems and approach comes from the leadership group, Rotheisler said.
“Our leadership group is awesome. Vince [Bitonti] and Eddie [Lindsey] and John [Moeller] and Hicksie [Everett Hicks] and even guys who don’t have a letter. You need leaders where anybody on the team who doesn’t have a letter can go on another team and have a letter. You’ve got Chase Daniels always getting guys going — he’s not wearing a letter but could be. The vets really take control, when there’s something we don’t notice as a staff, they’re on the boys. They keep each other accountable quite well.”
The Rebels improved to 9-6-0-1 after the weekend wins. Next up is a road trip to Invermere to face the Columbia Valley Rockies on Nov. 3 and a visit to Kimberley to face the Dynamiters Nov. 4.
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