The Castlegar Rebels find themselves tied 2-2 in the series after this week’s KIJHL playoff action against the Leafs.
The series started with a game that lasted through four periods of overtime, and players on both teams have managed to maintain a high level of play throughout the series, though both teams have had their off nights.
The Leafs lost 5-1 on Saturday night, and though the game went into double overtime on Tuesday, Bill Rotheisler, head coach for the Rebels, knows his team could have played better, and had hoped to be farther ahead in the series by now.
“We’ve certainly battled a lot of injuries and sickness and everything, and we expected to be better than where we’re at, but Nelson has also played well,” he said after Tuesday night’s game. “So because of that, a game like today, the right team won all four games, so the better team — well, although I thought we played better on the first game — but … I think it’s been OK. We’re capable of a lot more. I think we’ve taken the series far too lightly.”
Rebels goalie Chandler Billinghurst, who faced 40 shots during Tuesday night’s game, was also expecting the series to go better.
“I feel like both of our losses are games we shouldn’t have lost, so that’s really frustrating,” he said. “I honestly feel like it should have been four wins by now. But that’s on me, that’s on everybody.”
With the series now tied 2-2, it will be at least a six game series. Game 5 will take place in Castlegar at 7 p.m. on Thursday and game 6 will be played in Nelson on Friday at 7 p.m.
Game 1
The first game of the series started off well enough for the Rebels. Though they received a number of icing calls, Logan Styler scored the first goal of the game in the second half of the period, and the first ended scoreless for Nelson.
But the Rebels started to get a little frustrated in the second as, despite their best efforts, they failed to score on Leafs goalie Devin Allen and the Leafs counted one goal.
Then in the third, Rebels defenceman Dallas Goodwin received a 10-minute misconduct and a two-minute penalty for head contact. Goodwin was out of the game for the 10 minutes while another player served the penalty, and the Leafs took advantage of the power play opportunity to take the lead.
Goalie Chandler Billinghurst was pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute of play with the Rebels down 2-1. With less than a minute left it looked like the game belonged to the Leafs, but with 12.6 seconds on the clock and the Rebels on a power play, Kyle Bergh scored the game-tying goal that sent the Rebels into overtime.
The two teams then battled through the better part of four overtime periods, until just before the final eight minutes, when Goodwin received a game misconduct and a two-minute penalty for checking from behind. The Leafs took advantage of the power play and ended the game, winning 3-2.
Game 2
The Rebels’ Brandon Costa took advantage of a power play early in the first to score the first goal, assisted by Chase Daniels and Logan Styler, and from that point on the Rebels led the game. Shawn Campbell scored shortly afterwards, assisted by Styler and John Moeller. Then, Everett Hicks scored with assists by Daneel Lategan and Justin Podgorenko. It was the Rebels’ third goal of the first period with 6:54 still left on the clock.
The Leafs’ Nicholas Wihak scored shortly after and it looked as if the Leafs might be finding their footing, but they didn’t see another scoring opportunity for the rest of the match, despite the Rebels giving up six power plays overall.
The Rebels star of the game was Hicks who went on to score another two goals in the second period, including a shot that found the five hole.
The Rebels won 5-1.
Game 3
The Rebels didn’t get off to a great start in the first period. They made a couple of giveaways and gave up a very brief 5-on-3 to Nelson when Brandon Costa and Daneel Lategan both took penalties within a little over a minute of one another. Luckily for the Rebels, the Leafs’ Logan Wullum also took a penalty shortly after Lategan and it became a 4-on-3, with the Rebels able to kill the penalty and claim a brief power play of their own.
It was a scoreless period up until the last seven seconds when the Leafs’ Brendan Makay found the net.
The Rebels fought back in the second and for the second time this series, one of the Rebels scored a hat trick. John Moeller scored early in the period, but the Leafs responded with two more goals. Moeller came up with his own response, scoring to close the second with the Rebels down one, and he came back in the third to score his third goal of the game.
Less than two minutes later, Daniel Petten scored a short-handed goal, putting the Rebels in the lead. With a little over half of the period left, the Rebels did their best to try and secure a two-goal lead, but instead the Leafs scored again, tying the game 4-4, and the two teams once again headed into overtime.
When the first overtime period went by without a goal, it looked like fans might be in for another long night, but early into the second overtime period the Rebels received a power play and Logan Styler made the best of it — ending the game 5-4 for the Rebels and sending everyone home before midnight.
Game 4
The Rebels and the Leafs battled through three periods of regulation time without either of them managing to score a goal. The Rebels only counted 11 shots on goal during regulation, despite three power play opportunities, but Rebels goalie Chandler Billinghurst managed to hold off 32 shots on goal from the Leafs, keeping his team in the game.
By the end of the game he had faced 40 shots on net — but he couldn’t stop the last one, fired by the Leafs’ Sawyer Hunt.
The Rebels lost 1-0.