The Castlegar Rebels were outscored in their season opener Saturday against the North Okanagan Knights, but are nevertheless 1-0 in the Neil Murdoch Division standings.
Even though the scoreboard showed a 6-3 loss, the Rebels were credited with the win because the Knights played an ineligible player.
Brenden Skerratt, Jordan Wood, and Reid Wilson scored for Castlegar, who tied the game six minutes into the third period before surrendering a shorthanded goal.
Rebels president Mike Johnstone thought the team played a good game, but the Knights goalie managed to keep the Rebels’ shots out of the net. Castlegar had a 45-24 edge in shots on goal. Riley Tucker made 18 saves for the Rebels.
“We outshot them almost two-to-one, but the goalie … played really, really well,” said Johnstone. “Sometimes you just have those nights where you run into a situation like that and it goes against you.”
He says overall team management was happy with what they saw at the game.
The team roster is still a little light with 18 players but Johnstone expects that to fill out in the upcoming weeks.