By Derek Kaye,
Castlegar News contributor
Like the Saints game the night before, this game was played with fast action and a minimum of whistles.
The Rebels coming from a resounding thumping from a scoring view point of 9-0 the night before from their arch rival the Nelson Leafs, did not sit back. And with what looked like a display of sheer fearlessness skated as hard as any team could.
With some hard luck bounces, however, and perhaps some out-of-time, out-of-tune whistle blowing by the referee, the Creston Valley Thunder Cats would win the game by a two-goal margin. The Thunder Cats capitalizing on a late Rebel penalty in the dying seconds of the first period scored the first goal of the night by Connor Kidd from Matti Jmaeff and Logan Styler with only 18 seconds left.
An earlier disqualified goal by the Rebels left them starting the second period behind. The game was played with skill and speed by both teams, but even with some astounding saves by Rebel goalie Patrick Zubick the Cats were allowed to score with 10:41 left in the second by Matti Jmaeff from Brandon Formosa and Connor Kidd.
The Cats scored again in the third period at 13:14 with a shot by Brandon Formosa from Jaymes Veitch and Jesse Collins. The Rebels frustrated by now by the Creston Valley goalie Brock Lefebvre, disallowing any pucks to enter his net, pushed on with the look of grim determination on their faces. Finally, long overdue, the Rebels first goal of the night with ten minutes left in the game emerged from the stick of Jeremy McNeil (unassisted).
Following the game Rebel Captain Kody Disher said, “Those ones are always tough to lose …everyone played really good tonight, the whole team.” About Zubick, Kody said, “The kid’s the best player night in night out.”
Next game is Wednesday in Nelson. Asked about strategy, he said, “Play like we played tonight.”
The next Rebels home game is this Saturday February 1 against Spokane. It will also be a night of celebrating the promotion of Castlegar as Kraft Hockeyville for 2014.
