Dec 03, 2018 | CherylAnn Golem | 94 views
Missed it by that much...
The Township of Chatsworth and District, Moggie Valley Timber Inc., Midget Rep Rebels hosted the Blyth-Brussels Crusaders in Markdale on Sunday in a battle for third place in the division.
Rebels and Crusaders entered the arena tied in the standings and the play on the ice reflected two evenly matched opponents. Early in the game, play moved end to end at a fast pace but neither team had any really good scoring chances. Once again, Rebels suffered from lack of shots.
The Crusaders managed to draw first blood as the slipped one by the Rebel net-minder just past the midpoint of the first period. Rebels never gave up and continued to struggle to tie the game.
In the second, Crusaders had multiple penalties, but the Rebels were unable to capitalize on any of the power-play opportunities that came their way. If the Blyth-Brussels goalie had been defending a broomball net, the score would have been in the double digits for the Rebels, but a hockey net does not have those extra inches of height and the Rebels sailed at least a dozen just over the cross bar.
The Crusaders crashed the net hard every opportunity they got with multiple players moving through the crease and defense pinching in to increase traffic. Rebel goalie, Lawson Cumming turned aside many excellent scoring chances and managed to scramble through the skates and sticks and smother the puck on multiple occasions to keep the Crusader lead at 1.
Rebels managed a few good scoring plays of their own but were denied. Early in the third, however, Rebels unfortunately turned an extended man advantage for the Rebels into a 4 on 3 advantage for the Crusaders and Blyth-Brussels struck again to widen the gap to 2.
Just prior to the mid-point of the third, Rebels forward, Wyatt Golem, blew one through the legs of the Crusaders goalie to return the Rebels to within one. Both teams continued to press right up to the final seconds. Crusaders seeking an insurance goal and Rebels striving to tie the game. Neither were successful and the game ended 2 - 1 in favour of the Crusaders, which gave them sole possession of third in the division... for now...
Rebels take to the ice in Mount Forest on Tuesday at 8:30 pm to face off against the leader in the division. Come out and support our Rebels as the clash with the Rams. Go Rebels Go!!!