Nov 18, 2018 | CherylAnn Golem | 76 views
Edge of Your Seat
The Township of Chatsworth and District, Moggie Valley Timber Inc., Midget Rep Rebels met Norwich (many picked as the favorite to win the tourney) in game 2 of Silver Stick. Tension was high as the only way for Rebels to move on was to win this game but 'to be the best you have to beat the best'.
Fans all knew that if the Rebels showed up with the same level of play they brought to the first game of the Silver Stick that we were looking at a double digit loss. A very different Rebel team showed up. Despite missing several key players, the Rebels immediately responded to the hard hitting fast pace and matched it stride for stride.
Body contact was a given. Both teams knew that if you touched the puck, you were going to get hit and if you stood still with the puck you would regret the decision. The hockey was fast-paced, hard-skating, hard-hitting and entertaining for the fans. The referee let the players play the game, for the most part, and generally minor infractions were ignored.
It seemed, the Rebels were out-sized and almost every pass the Knight Hawks made was a bullet, tape to tape through any amount of traffic. Play was end to end but Rebels seemed to have trouble finishing the play and getting the quality shots they needed. Rebel goalie Lawson Cumming faced the Knight Hawks head on and turned away everything they threw at him.
Both teams were pushing hard but neither could get the puck in the opposing net. After a number of chances, Rebel forward Mason Hanna was rewarded for his constant hustle as he found the back of the Norwich net with the assist to Hunter Schultz. This had the Rebels leading the Knight Hawks 1 - 0 with 10:46 to go in the second. The goal just seemed to make both teams push harder. Unfortunately for the Rebels, missing 4 forwards meant that those who remained had to see a whole lot more ice time than they were used to so far this season. As the second period began to wind down, the Rebels slowed ever so slightly and everyone was on the edge of their seat as no one believed the one goal lead would stand up. Several amazing passing plays ended in either no shot or one centre mass of the towering Norwich goalie. Finally, with less than 2 minutes left in the second, defense-man Alex Dejong, pitching in for the game as a winger, found himself a couple meters in front of the Norwich net with the puck on his backhand. He made no mistake as he finished the passing play from Calvin Stewart and Schultz with a quick backhand past the Knight Hawk netminder to increase the Rebel lead to 2 - 0. Rebels were approaching the end of their second period of penalty free play... but they didn't quite make it.
Fans nervously discussed the game during the break between the second and third. Sometimes the Rebels have really pulled together in the third and sometimes they have not. Either way, everyone knew the game was far from over.
Both teams returned to the ice ready to play. Rebels were looking at playing most of the first 4 minutes short handed. The Rebels dug in and Cummings picked up any slack. Then, with less than 30 seconds left in the penalty, the Rebels found themselves playing 5 on 3. Norwich finally snuck one into the Rebel net with 6 seconds left in the original penalty. This left the Rebels still facing another minute and a half shorthanded and their lead cut in half. You could see the Rebel penalty killers really beginning to sag and, though they kept fighting back, they couldn't hold on and the Knight Hawks scored another power-play goal with less than 20 seconds left in the penalty.
The Rebels had a number of chances to regain the lead, but it was as if the tide had shifted. The Rebels seemed to have a slight edge in the first half of the game, but once the Knight Hawks evened the game the edge went to them as fatigue set in for the Rebels. The Norwich bench was on its feet and the Rebels flopped on the bench gasping for air every time they came off the ice.
Finally, with less than 3 minutes left, the Rebels again had a man in the box. The coincidental penalty did not leave them short a player on the ice, but it did leave a very tired team with one less player on the bench. With just over a minute left in the game, the Knight Hawks struck again and though the Rebels tried right up to the buzzer, they just couldn't squeeze out another goal.
The game ended 3-2 in favour of Norwich, but the fans all left knowing they had watched a game that would rival any championship final.