Nov 19, 2019 | CherylAnn Golem | 86 views
Rebels vs. Lakers for the Chance to Advance
The Township of Chatsworth and District, Moggie Valley Timber Inc., Midget Rep Rebels ended the round robin play of the Wingham Silverstick in fourth overall which had them face off against their rivals up the road, Shallow Lake, who were in fifth place, for the opportunity to advance to the semi finals of the tourney.
This group of Rebels has struggled with the Lakers since Novice. Whether the Lakers were stacked and the Rebels in the basement or if we were doing well on the season too, these Rebels seem to have a mental block against this team and manage to lose every game -- often snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as they blow leads and take bad penalties.
The tensions were high before the game even started as many of the Rebels tried to overcome the history and just deal with the game at hand. Lakers were coming in number one in our division of the league while Rebels were second from the basement but Rebels had not lost yet this tourney and wanted the chance to continue.
Rebels came out hard in the first and much of the play was in the Lakers end of the ice during period number one. Rebels, who have failed to put together a decent powerplay all year (more shots against than for on powerplays this season) once again squandered an opportunity to take the lead when the Lakers took a mid-period penalty. As period one drew to a close, Rebels took a penalty of their own and ended up facing a Lakers powerplay. With a few key saves by Rebels goalie Lawson Cumming, the Rebel forwards kept the Lakers busy in their defensive end and centre ice and the team came together in a box when needed to shut the Lakers out.
Period two saw the Rebels energy flag a little. Whereas period one saw the Rebels take control things were on a more even level in the second.
Rebels allowed several breakaways by the Lakers and at 12:26 of the second the Lakers finally capitalized and were able to slip one into the Rebel net to take the lead 1 - 0. Rebels once again failed to capitalize on a Lakers penalty in the middle of the second and the period slowly ticked away. Rebels continued to push and played smart hockey using their body not their stick when making contact with the other team and this kept them out of the penalty box in period two. During the final minute of the period, Alex Dejong flew down the ice to score the equalizer, with the help of Josh Currie, and the second period ended 1 - 1.
Early in the third, the Rebels found themselves once again short handed. But, as had happened earlier in the game, the Rebel forwards forechecked hard and when they were forced back into their own end they boxed it out and Cumming stopped everything thrown his way and cleaned up the trash. Surviving unscathed, the Rebels then came back and scored a goal of their own on the powerplay when defenseman Cory Rasmussen went all the way and found the back of the net with the recorded assist going to Cumming to give the goalie his first point of the season.
Then, the Rebels ended up back in the box and the Lakers capitalized on the first shift of their powerplay to tie the game at 2.
If Rebels could hold on and force a tie, it was possible that they would still be able to advance to the semi's and if they could score their advance would be assured. Unfortunately, the Lakers were the only ones to sneek another into the goal and the game ended 3 - 2 in their favour.
This ended the Rebels quest for Silverstick. Not that far in the past, most of this Rebel team beat an undefeated Flesherton team in Wingham Silverstick round robin and went on to face them in the finals where Flesherton went on to win the tourney and the international silverstick as well - proving Rebels had the skills they just needed to stay out of the penalty box and play smart and hard. This year they tied an undefeated Flesherton team who went on to win the tourney and is off to play at the international tourney. Rebels have the skills to go all the way this season too.
Looking forward to seeing them reach their full potential -- Go Rebels Go!!!