Friday December 2 saw your Barry's Construction LL1 Rebels head out on the road for the first of a two game series in Southampton, this one again the Saugeen Shores Storm LL1. Both teams played clean, sportmanslike hockey with very few penalties and a good attitude.
The Rebels came into the game with a change in the normal lineup, as Sasha McMurray volunteered for his first ever game as a defenseman. This move allowed double-threat Jordan Brown to get a chance to show off some of the offensive play that he favours. Sasha was shown the ropes by veteran defensemen John Farmer and the legendary Rodger brothers, with the support of defensive coach Jenn Rodger.
The first period was hard, as Saugeen Shores came out of the gate raring to go and unleashed a Storm on our Rebels. The home team had three goals in the first, with our Rebel's sole goal coming at the 4:49 mark, scored by outstanding winger Jackson Gordon, assisted by Trevor McCarthy.
The second period, however, belonged to the Rebels. Undaunted by the Storm's 2-point lead, our boys turned up the pressure. They started by pushing the action out of our end, with exceptional defending by Sheldon and Jeffrey Rodger, frequent and timely interceptions by John Farmer and the spectacular goaltending by our own star goalie Danny Wallis. By the last three minutes of the second period our offense had moved the action to the home team's end and the pressure on that Storm goalie was phenomenal. Sam Potter put us back in the game at the 2:19 mark, with our prodigy AP Felix Moore racking up his first assist of the night. Only a minute later Felix got his second, assisting Trevor McCarthy to his first goal of the night, also assisted by Jackson Gordon. Sam Potter struck again with only seconds left on the clock, scoring the critical go-ahead goal assisted by intrepid winger Connor Thede. At the end of the 2nd, 4-3 Rebels!
The third period was absolutely action-packed. The Storm wanted their lead back, and they were willing to work hard to get it. Our blueliners skated themselves to exhaustion, battling a more numerous and fresher Storm. Jordan Brown and Felix Moore played as excellent two-way forwards, bolstering our D-boys throughout an incredibly exciting third period. The offense kept their pressure on too, taking every opportunity to take the action back into the Storm's end. In the end, though, despite all the hard work by the rest of the team, there was no doubt that the star of that third period was netminder Danny Wallis. Clearly Danny decided to draw the line at 3, and refused to let the Storm take away our lead no matter how hard they tried. To the delight of the Rebels fans the third remained scoreless, propelling the Barry's Construction Atom LL1 Rebels to a well deserved win!