The Township of Chatsworth and District Moggie Valley Timber Midget Rep Rebels got their season underway with a win in Wingham versus the Ironmen.
The Rebels seemed very flat-footed and slow to adapt to their new linemates which caused the first half of the first period to be spent entirely in the Rebel end of the ice. Finally, over halfway through the period, the Rebels managed to get into the Wingham end. Rebels rang the post but couldn’t get a shot on net. Then Hunter Shultz fired and beat the Wingham netminder but the puck rebounded off the post again and through the crease where Wyatt Golem buried it for the first goal of the game at 6:04 of the first. This gave some life to the Rebels who continued to push and were rewarded when Brandon Stewart fed a beautiful pass to Jakob Moran who found the mesh in the back of the Wingham net to give the Rebels a 2 – 0 lead. Rebels goalie Lawson Cummings, who held the Rebels in the game during their rocky start, continued to make spectacular saves to keep the Ironmen scoreless.
Early in the second, Rebels extended their lead to 3 – 0 when Brandon Stewart showed some beautiful moves to score, with the assist to Curtis Wade. The game continued with scoring chances at both ends of the ice until the Ironmen finally snuck one into the Rebels net. 3 – 1.
Rebels came out flying high in the third and, less than 30 seconds in, the Stewart brothers combined to return the lead to 3 as Calvin found Brandon and Brandon handcuffed the Wingham net minder and found the mesh behind him for his second goal of the game. Unfortunately, the 3 goal lead was quickly clipped back to 2 when the Ironmen scored less than 30 seconds after.
Body contact had been pretty limited during the game, but a few hits led to some unnecessary penalties on both sides and the Rebels defensive play seemed to really struggle leaving Cummings to face a number of breakaways and 2 on 1 and 2 on none situations. But, at 10:33, the puck squirted free to Hunter Schultz who made no mistake and beat the Ironmen’s goalie to restore the Rebel lead to 3. The Ironmen continued to capitalize on Rebels errors and scored again less than 30 seconds later to cut the Rebel lead back to 2 goals.
The Rebels fought back and the defense combined to provide offense as Mason Hanna passed to Jordan Beirnes who fired towards the net through traffic. The puck passed through a number of legs and sticks before blowing by the goalie and returning the Rebel lead to 3 once again.
Rebels seemed to relax as they entered the final 5 minutes of play, secure in that 3 goal lead. The Ironmen took advantage with goals at 4:45 and 4:35 to cut the Rebel lead to 1 goal. Fans remained on the edge of their seats with chances at both ends but the Rebels managed to hold on to win 6 – 5.
Congrats to the Rebels in their first regular season win as they prepare for their tournament in Norwood October 27 and 28. Meantime, because several regular season games were cancelled, the Rebels travelled to Flesherton for exhibition play.
Rebels fought hard and played significantly better versus the Golden Hawks than they had in their previous game. Rebels still have a long way to go to get their physical game on track but they seemed to be coming together as a team and the fans left the arena in Flesherton hopeful for a season of good hockey despite the 3 – 0 loss. Good luck to the Rebels as they travel to Norwood for their first tournament of the year.