Feb 19, 2020 | CherylAnn Golem | 1105 views
Too Close to Call
The Township of Chatsworth and District, Moggie Valley Timber Inc., Midget Rep Rebels travelled to Drayton for game 3 of the series. Rebels headed into the game with a three point to 1 point lead in the series and hoped to extend that to 5 to 1.
Things did not go as planned when the Drayton Defenders scored in the first minute of play when the puck was mishandled at the Rebels blue line and the Defenders were allowed to step in and fire. The Defenders gave the Rebels the opportunity to get back in the game when they took several penalties, but the powerplay for the Rebels was completely ineffective and the first period ended 1 - 0 in favour of Drayton.
Period 2 got off to a better start with sustained pressure, mainly in the Drayton end leading to the puck coming out of the corner and into the Defenders net, when Calvin Stewart and Josh Currie dug for it along the boards and Hunter Schultz carried it out and fired by the goalie and tied the score at 1.
Then an excellent passing play saw the puck move bang, bang, bang, bang around the Defenders net with Wyatt Golem to Austin King who finished it with a pass to Austin McComb who made no mistake and buried it deep in the Drayton goal to take the lead.
After making several great saves, Lawson Cumming lost his stick in a melee in front of his goal. Unable to retrieve it due to sustained pressure, Cumming continued to make saves without it. Unfortunately a shot from the side of the net through the crease deflected off the stick and in to tie the game at 2.
The game continued without further scoring into period 3. Early in the third, Cumming made a number of excellent saves to keep the score even at 2. Then, the Rebels amped up the pressure. Carson Torrie broke away and headed into the Defenders end for a shot which was stopped but the rebound came to Josh Currie who was trailing on the play and he made no mistake and the Rebels regained the lead. Shortly thereafter, once again with some sustained pressure Austin McComb got the puck to Jordan Beirnes on the point and he fired a blistering shot which Golem, who was planted in the goalie's face, tipped to give the Rebels an insurance goal 4 - 2.
It looked like the Rebels had the game well in hand with a 2 goal lead and less than 10 minutes left to play. Unfortunately, a bad penalty stemmed the tide and gave the Defenders a lift. After playing 2 minutes 5 on 4, the Rebels then faced 2 additional minutes 5 on 3. The Rebels, especially Cumming came close to killing off the penalties, but with 7 seconds left the Defenders drew within one and seconds later, the defenders evened the score at 4 all.
The final minutes of the third saw chances for both teams and many near misses for the Rebels but the teams headed for overtime. Less than 30 seconds into overtime, Rebel goalie Cumming was penalized and the Defenders were awarded a penalty shot. Cumming denied the Defender and sudden death overtime continued.
Rebels had many chances but couldn't quite capitalize. Finally, with just over 3 minutes remaining in overtime, a huge scramble in the Rebel crease saw Cumming down with a number of players from both teams on him. Shots continued as he tried to keep the net clear despite having lost his helmet in the battle. Eventually, Defenders were able to pound it over the goal line to provide them with the controversial and much protested win.
Rebels and Defenders meet again on Thursday at 9 pm in Markdale with the series now even at 3 pts a piece.
Let's go Rebels!!!