The Castlegar Rebels had a busy week of hockey starting last Tuesday Nov. 3 with a game in Spokane which they won 4 -1.They then played in the Okanagan with a loss to the Osoyoos Coyotes 4-1 on Friday Nov. 6. and on Saturday the Rebels lostto the Summerland Steam 3-0.
In Spokane with the Rebels Logan Sawka in net, only one of the Braves 31 shots was a goal. Over half of those shots were inthe third period as Spokane tried to overcome a three goal lead that the Rebels had established. The Braves did make itonto the scoreboard 51 seconds into the the third period. However LJ Naccarato had scored for the Rebels only 16 secondsearlier.
Nick Headrick assisted by Tayden Woods and Mike Bhatoa gave back to the Rebels their three goal lead when he scored withless than eight minutes left in the game, resulting in the final score of 4-1.
In sunny Osoyoos the Castlegar Rebels did not make it onto the scoreboard until the second period when Chris Breesescored assisted by Mike Bhatoa and the Rebels Goalie Joseph Mcleod. But that would be the only Rebels goal of the game.By game end the Coyotes had 43 shots compared to the Rebels 27 shots. The Osoyoos team scored twice in the first periodand twice in the third period to give them a decisive 4-1 win.
The fruit did not get any sweeter for the Rebels when they played the Summerland Steam on Saturday, Nov 7. The Rebelswere shut out 3-0 as Summerland steamrolled through the Castlegar defence to lay 41 shots on the Rebels Goalie LoganSawka. Summerland put 2 goals on the scoreboard in the first period. Calvin Rout scored assisted by Michael MacLean andRaphael Bassot scored assisted by Riley Pettitt and Cody Egilson. The Steam scored again late in the second period with agoal by Brogan Lautard assisted by Paulsen Lautard.
The Rebels continue to hold second place in the Neil Murdoch Division of the KIJHL nipping at the heels of the Beaver ValleyNitehawks. The Nitehawks are in first place only two points ahead of Castlegar. While the Nelson Leafs continue to holdtheir own in third place three points behind Castlegar. Nelson and Beaver Valley have both played nineteen games whileCastlegar has played twenty.
The Rebels play in Kimberly against the Dynamiters on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Their next home game is on Saturday, Nov. 14 atthe Castlegar Complex Arena with the Beaver Valley Nitehawks. Rebels Assistant Coach Keegan Little was confident theteam will have their “A game” for this week’s games.
“Big weekend for the new guys. We are playing for first place. Got to get that rivalry going with probably our biggest rivals(Beaver Valley). We got to bring speed, we got to bring physical play, we got to bring everything. The only way we are goingto beat one of the top teams in the league is if we bring everything we got to the table. Play a full 60 minutes.”
Puck drop is 7 p.m. for Saturday’s game with the Nitehawks.