The Castlegar Rebels figured out the best way to beat their division rival from Nelson is to turn the other cheek when lines start getting crossed and power play your way to victory, in what has become a familiar pattern this season.
It was the final game between the two teams in the regular season Friday night in Castlegar, and with the 4-1 win, the Rebels ended the season 3-3-1-1-0 against the Leafs.
The Rebels’ Edward Lindsey scored the first goal of the game, assisted by Scott Rademaker and Chase Daniels after the Leafs’ Brendan Mackay took a two-minute penalty for slashing less than a minute into the game.
The Leafs’ Ryan Cooper, assisted by Ryan Piva, tied things up soon after, but then the Leafs’ Logan Wullum took a series of penalties for going after the Rebels’ John Moeller.
Wullum received a non-fighting game misconduct, a 10-minute game misconduct, five minutes for slashing, two minutes for roughing and two minutes for slashing.
The Rebels’ Chase Daniels also received two minutes for roughing.
The power play opportunity led to a goal from Kirkland Spencer, assisted by Dallas Goodwin and Moeller, and the Rebels retook the lead, 2-1.
The play between the two teams was very physical in the second period.
The Leafs’ Justin Podgorenko took two minutes for slashing and before his penalty had even been served, the Rebels’ Reid Wilson headed to the box to serve two minutes for hooking.
Shortly after Podgorenko made it back onto the ice the Rebels worked hard to kill the penalty and Chris Breese took off on a breakaway, scoring an unassisted short-handed goal and giving the Rebels a two-goal lead.
In the final five minutes of the third period, a brief fight broke out between Rademaker and the Leafs’ Nicholas Wihak, which resulted in both players receiving two-minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.
At the same time, Chase Daniels received a game misconduct and a 10-minute misconduct for starting a fight with another one of the Leafs.
As the Leafs’ Michael Blandon was already out for slashing, the whole incident left the Rebels’ on a power play and Mason, assisted by Goodwin, took advantage to give their team a three-goal lead with only 3:45 left on the clock.
But that wasn’t the end of the penalties.
With a mere 12 seconds left on the clock, the Leafs’ Brent Headon drove one of the Rebels’ players into the boards and he went down.
Headon received a 10-minute misconduct and two minutes for head contact, and the team received a game misconduct and a 10-minute team penalty for gross misconduct at the end of the game.
Rebels head coach and general manager Bill Rotheisler was proud of the game his team played.
“John was playing and they went after him and they were trying to get him going,” he said of the incident involving Moeller in the first period. “That’s something we’re aware of that they try to do and so that’s something we’ve been working on, obviously regardless of what the other team does in that scenario. We’re working on keeping our cool and it paid off. I mean that was our game-winning goal.”
Rotheisler chose to be flattered by the Nelson team’s aggressive style of play.
“We’re flattered that they like playing us so passionately, certainly. We’re really flattered, but I mean, our focus is beyond that,” he said.
The Rebels have one final regular season game tonight at 7 p.m. at the Castlegar Complex against the Spokane Braves.
Rotheisler emphasized that though the game won’t impact the standings, it’s still an important game for his team.
“A lot of the times you don’t know the importance of a game like that,” he said. “It’s essentially our bridge game into playoffs and the reality is it takes a long time to build up good habits and it doesn’t take long to tear them apart.”
It’s also important for the Rebels because they’ve lost their last two games against the Braves.
“There’s a certain sense of pride there as well to make sure that hopefully, we play well against them,” said Rotheisler.
The Rebels first playoff game against the Beaver Valley Nitehawks is Friday, Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. on home ice.
Asked how the team will use their week to prepare, Rotheisler said there will be lots of meetings and video reviews.
“I love playoff series because it’s almost like how, you look at how the NFL prepares for their weekly game — you can put a lot more preparation into one team than you usually do in the course of a season,” he said.
Rotheisler also reported a positive morale in the dressing room as the team readies for playoffs.
“They’re a close bunch. They’re working hard during the week and morale is good,” he said.
