Mar 01, 2019 | Karin Stockwell | 418 views
Grit of a bulldog, heart of a bear
As expected and highly anticipated, the TCDMHA Power Workers’ Union Midget LL Rebels
made a point of keeping the bear out of the cage in their second playoff
meeting against the Kincardine Kinucks last Wednesday, but it went into brief captivity
when the Rebels travelled up the road to meet the Saugeen Shores Storm 2 team
in Port Elgin on Sunday.
In the first game of the Highway 21 series, the Rebels made it clear that they had no intentions of giving their opponents any home-ice advantage, scoring four unanswered goals over two periods and blanking the Kinucks 4-0. Jake Hartman opened the scoring in the second period with an unassisted marker, followed by Josh Currie’s goal (assisted by Wes Houston and Jack Kivell) a few minutes later. The balance of the points came in the third on an unassisted effort by Chris Hardman and a goal by Carson Torrie, assisted by Landon Heathers. The well-deserved shutout went to netminder, Jason Rudolph-Macleod.
The story was a bit different on Sunday when the Rebels faced the Storm. Although the good guys got on the board first with a nice tip by Chris Hardman (assisted by Jack Kivell), a whopping seven Rebels penalties – five in the second period alone – kept the bear corralled and shut down the Rebels’ offence for most of the game. The Storm would capitalize some of the powerplays, scoring two of their three goals while the Rebels were shorthanded, cutting short the Rebels’ remarkable eight-game win streak and 13-game unbeaten streak that stretched back to December 2018.
While it looks on paper that the bear was penned in for a while, it by no means has gone into hibernation. The Rebels have plenty of fight left in them going into their last two playoff match-ups of this round – one against Shallow Lake on Saturday and the other the rematch against the Storm on home ice in Markdale on Tuesday night. The Storm can rage all it wants, but the Rebels bear has no intentions of being captured a second time. The Rebels have their sights set on the championship trophy, and they are going to let nothing and no one get in their way.
GO, REBELS, GO !!!