Jan 14, 2018 | Karin Stockwell | 904 views
How sweet it is!
The Howell Transport TCDMHA Midget LL Rebels have been very
busy during this past weekend, playing two games in less than 24 hours and
tasting sweet victory in both.
The Rebels travelled to Port Elgin to take on Saugeen Shores for the Saturday night game. The opponents would put up two markers in the first period, before Chris Hardman’s solo effort found home in the early minutes of the second. Saugeen would respond with another goal, but that was all they could muster before the floodgates burst open and the Rebels began the relentless assault that would start their remarkable comeback. Brodey Barwick brought the Rebels within one on a set-up by Chris Hardman to close out the second period.
In the third, the backchecking brigade began in earnest, shutting down the offence. Down a goal, but definitely not out, and bolstered by outstanding goaltending by Devin Early, the Rebels used their offensive opportunities to drive home another goal, this one by Jeremy Kirk who has a knack of knowing how to be in the perfect place at the perfect time. The game was now up for grabs, and with victory so close, the Rebels were determined not to let it slip from their grasp. In a flurry in the dying moments of the game, Josh Currie pegged the game-winner, assisted by Garrett McNabb and Jeremy Kirk.
Accustomed to having the upper hand the night before, the Rebels began the Sunday afternoon home game reeling from a very determined Kincardine team who stormed out of the gate intent on taking control of the ice. Stellar – and this doesn’t even come close to describing it – goaltending by Devin Early kept the Rebels in the game as he stopped puck after puck after puck, managing to come up with big saves when the team needed it the most. It looked like the period may result in a scoreless tie until a brilliant rush by Josh Currie - while the team was playing shorthanded - netted the first point of the game for the Rebels.
Kincardine answered with a goal of their own just inside the second period, and this was the wakeup call that the team needed to amp up their game to the next level. The tenacious bulldogs that they are, the Rebels started digging in, challenging the opponents deep in their zone and backchecking all the way back down the ice. Kincardine would score no more goals in the rest of the second and all of the third. Jake Hartman put the icing on the victory cake with a spectacular goal in the second period, and that, as they say, was that.
Sitting atop a comfortable two-game win streak, the Rebels remain undefeated in 2018. With two games left in the regular season, here’s to a perfect lead-up to the playoffs. Go, Rebels, Go!