Morisseau scores winner as Rebels beat Nitehawks in OT

Connor Bowen of the Rebels looks to score against GF on Tuesday

Despite losing to the Castlegar Rebels on Saturday in overtime at the Castlegar Community Centre, the Beaver Valley Nitehawks have clinched top spot in the Neil Murdoch Division and will have home ice advantage for at least the first two play-off rounds.

The Rebels picked up five of six points during a busy week and solidified their hold on second place in the division. On Friday in Fruitvale, The Rebs lost 4-3 in overtime to the 'Hawks. On Saturday at home, Castlegar turned the tables and beat BV by the same score also in overtime. On Tuesday, the Rebs were at home again and shut out basement dwelling Grand Forks 3-0.

"Overall, I was pleased with the effort," said Rebel coach Steve Junker. "Playoff hockey is a bit of a different animal - it's about winning hockey games and learning how to win, how to stay in games and not give up leads. Having two really tight matches against BV is a good lesson to learn heading into play-offs. They're always great match-ups. I think they were exciting for the fans, which is great." 

On Saturday night, Rebel sharp-shooter Scott Morisseau, assisted by Riley Henderson and Aaron Brewer, scored at 1:27 of overtime to give Castlegar the win over Beaver Valley at the Community Complex.

Goals from Stuart Walton, Arthur Andrews, and Tyler Robinson gave the Rebels a 3-1 lead late in the third period. Two goals from BV with less than two minutes, including Dallas Calvin equalizer with 38 seconds left in regulation, send the game into overtime.

"You come to expect anytime you have a lead heading into the last couple of minutes of a game, you know there will be a big push back from the other team," said Junker. "They have some talented players over there that can score. It was unfortunate (they tied it up) but again a learning lesson. We got the win, the two points at the end."

On Friday in Fruitvale, the roles were reversed as Beaver Valley won 4-3 in overtime with the winning goal scored by Christian Johnson.

Anthony Delong tied the game with 36 seconds left for Castlegar. Riley Henderson and Scott Morisseau scored the other Friday goals for the Rebs.

"It shows how you're never really out of it," said Junker. "You're always battling. A couple of goals there and we answered right away on the power play, which kept us in the game. We were lucky to get one in a scramble in front of the net. We had enough chances to score in overtime."

Junker praised the strong play of all four goaltenders in the Castlegar/Beaver Valley series. (Zach Perehudoff and Mike Vlanich for BV and Jordan Gluck and Connor Beauchamp for Castlegar).

"Each goalie played one game each," he said. "I thought all four goalies played well all weekend. Each goalie made big saves, key saves in both games."

Tuesday saw the Rebels shut out the Grand Forks Border Bruins 3-0 at the Castlegar Community Complex. Bruin netminder Dylan Quinn was strong between the pipes turning back 48 of 51 Rebel shots. Jordan Gluck picked up the shutout for Castlegar making 13 saves.

Scoring for Castlegar were Bryce Eviston, Peter Mingus, and Tyler Jones.

The Rebs sat out Anthony Delong, Stuart Walton, and captain Erik Alden. Meanwhile, Riley Henderson and Brenden Heinrich were call up to the Junior A Trail Smoke Eaters.

"We had the opportunity to play a couple of our affiliate players," said Junker. "We hope to have a play-off run and you never know who you'll need to play. So giving some of our AP players an opportunity to fit in in our mix is great."

The play-off match-ups have been determined for the Neil Murdoch Division. Castlegar will face Nelson in the first round, while Beaver Valley will have home ice advantage against Spokane. The play-offs will begin Feb. 24.

Rebels even weekend series with Nelson

The Castlegar Rebels defeated the Nelson Leafs 4-1 in KIJHL action on Saturday night at the Castlegar Community Complex.

All the scoring came in the third period as Stuart Walton scored twice and Anthony Delong and Arthur Andrews added singles for Castlegar. Dallon Stoddard scored the lone goal for Nelson.

On Friday in Nelson, the hometown Leafs beat the Rebels 6-2 led by two goals from Max Mois. Scott Morisseau and Delong had the goals for Castlegar.

Rebels struggle on road trip

Despite finally having the services of sharp shooter Scott Morisseau, the Castlegar Rebels lost two of three games on their East Kootenay swing last weekend.

The Rebs lost in overtime 4-3 to Kimberley on Thursday, beat Columbia Valley 6-1 on Friday, and lost 4-2 to Golden on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Steve Jessel/Invermere Valley Echo

The Rebels road trip started Thursday in the Bavarian city where they faced the Dynamiters.

The teams traded goals in the first period with Anthony Delong scoring at 7:45 assisted by Morisseau. Jordan Revie responded for Kimberley at 2:26.

Goals from Tyler Robinson (assisted by Stuart Walton and Nolan Kinney) and Morisseau (assisted by Delong) put the Rebels up 3-1 midway through the second period.

Kimberley took over at that point with Senate Patton bringing the Nitros to within one at 1:24 of the second. 

Dynamiter veteran Richard Hubscher tied the game two minutes into the third period with a power play goal.

Mark Strachan picked up the winner for the home team at 3:56 of the third period, assisted by Patton and Hubscher.

Castlegar had an easier time of things on Friday night in Invermere against the Columbia Valley Rockies.

The Rebs scored four goals in the first period and added two more in the second for the 6-1 win.

Scoring for Castlegar were Arthur Andrews with two, Morriseau, Connor Bowen, Delong, and Horcoff. Aaron Barclay scored the lone goal for Columbia Valley.

The Rebels got off to another strong start on Saturday in Golden.

Tyler Robinson, assisted by Stuart Walton, scored the first goal of the game at 12:08 of the first to put Castlegar up 1-0.

Golden's Brandon Shirley responded at 4:36 of the first to tie the score for the Rockets.

Peter Mingus put Castlegar up 2-1 midway through the second with an unassisted goal. Unfortunately, the goal would be the Rebels last as they watched Golden score three times in the third to secure the 4-2 win.

Picture courtesy of the Jessica Schwitek/Golden Star

Castlegar in back at home Saturday with an intra-divisional game against first place Beaver Valley. The Nitehawks overtook the Nelson Leafs after beating them 3-2 on Saturday.

The Rebels then head Stateside for a game in Spokane against the Braves.

Two out of three ain't bad for Rebels

The Castlegar Rebels had a busy weekend with three games in three days. The Rebels picked up four out of six points, beating Creston Valley, Spokane and falling to Beaver Valley.

On Friday, the Rebs travelled to Creston and beat the Creston Valley Thunder Cats 5-3.

 Brandon Formosa opened up the scoring for the Cats with a power play goal at 14:53 of the first period. Goals from Stuart Walton and Connor Bowen put Castlegar up 2-1. Scott Swiston tied the game at 2-2 with a power play goal with 2:17 left in the first period. The Rebels then took the lead again half a minute later with Nolan Kinney scoring assisted by Anthony Delong and Walton.

Braydon Horcoff put the Rebels up 4-2 at 9:18 of the second period with assists from Peter Mingus and Daylen Pearson.

Creston Valley cut the gap to one with a power play goal from Jesse Collins at 5:19 of the third period. However, the Thunder Cats would get no closer. Pearson scored an empty netter with 16 seconds left to seal the 5-3 win for Castlegar.

The next night, the boys were in Fruitvale where they fell to the surging Beaver Valley Nitehawks and had a chance to gain some ground against their divisional rivals. However, the 'Hawks had other ideas as they soundly thrashed the Rebels.

Beaver Valley pushed ahead 3-0 with goals by Ryan Edwards, Tyler Collins, and Dallas Calvin, and again 5-1 with Josh Peters and Mason Spear scoring. The final score was 7-4 for the Nitehawks, who are second place in the Neil Murdoch Division, three points ahead of Castlegar.

Delong provided most of the scoring for the Rebels as he netted a hat-trick. Arthur Andrews scored the other Castlegar goal.

Pearson chipped in with three assists.

The Rebels returned to Castlegar on Sunday afternoon where they beat Spokane 5-2 led by a hat-trick from Kinney and two goals from Brenden Heinrich.

Rebels thankful for shutout in Spokane after OT loss at home

Friday and Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend bore very different results for Castlegar's Jr. B KIJHL squad as it completed a home and home set with the Spokane Braves. The Rebels lost at home 4-3 in overtime on Friday and won 3-0 on Saturday in Spokane.

Connor Bowen tries to stick-handle through the Spokane defenders during Friday's game at the Complex. Jim Sinclair photo.

"Overall, I think as expected there were some good things that we did that we are getting better at and some things that we obviously still need some work at," said Rebel coach Steve Junker.
Friday night at the Castlegar Community Complex the Rebels jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to be eclipsed 4-3 by their guests in overtime.
Scoring goals for Castlegar were Diego Bartlett and Stuart Walton in the first period, and Tyler Jones in the third. Zak Kroll picked up the game winner for Spokane at 4:08 of O.T.
"We let it slip away. We started doing some things we liked but then got away from our game plan and gave up a two goal lead," said Junker. "We want to be tough to play against. That's one thing that has to be a part of every hockey player's (repertoire). You have to be tough to play against. If you're not - all you're going to do is allow other teams to do what they want."
Saturday's game saw the Canadian visitors make a definitive statement with a 3-0 win. After a scoreless first period, Bartlett got the Rebs on the scoreboard with a goal assisted by Arthur Andrews and Peter Mingus.
Brendan Heinrich put Castlegar up 2-0 at 8:58 of the second period, assisted by Dylan Houle and Tyler Robinson. Bryce Eviston scored a short-handed empty netter with 1:25 of the third period to seal the victory for the Rebels. Assisting on Eviston's goal were Bartlett and Andrews.
"It was a much better effort on Saturday," said Junker. "We stuck to the game plan a little bit more."
Alex Ross picked up the shutout for Castlegar, turning away 26 shots.
"He played solid," said Junker. "I thought our guys played solid in front of him as far as defensively. It was a nice way to finish the weekend. It was definitely disappointing not getting two points on Friday night but we were able to get a win on the weekend and head into another week of work."
That does it for the Rebels until Friday, Oct. 14 when they'll travel to Creston Valley for a date with the Thundercats. On Saturday, Oct. 15, the Rebs play an inter-divisional game in Fruitvale against Beaver Valley.
Following Thanksgiving weekend action the Rebels were solid occupants of third place in the KIJHL's Neil Murdoch division with 11 points, seven clear of fourth place Spokane and trailing front-running Nelson (17 points) and second place Beaver Valley (14 points).

Boom goes the Dynamiters!!

Stuart Walton's power play goal at 14:01 of the first period was the only goal the Rebels would need as Castlegar shut out the visiting Kimberley Dynamiters.

Connor Beauchamp picked up the shutout for Castlegar as turned away all 19 Nitro shots.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the Rebs are at home for the second night in a row against Osoyoos, the team that knocked Castlegar out of the KIJHL play-offs last year.

Rebels celebrate a banner year!!

The Castlegar Rebels raised the banner for the team's 2010-11 Kootenay Conference Championship at Friday's game at the Castlegar Community Complex. Doing the honours were Anthony Delong and Erik Alden.

Unfortunately, the banner raising was the highlight of Friday night for the Rebels as they lost 3-0 to Nelson in the team's home opener.
Nelson was led by two goals from Patrick Martens and a single by Colton Malmstren.
Leaf goalie Andrew Walton picked up the shutout turning away 27 Rebel shots. Connor Beauchamp was between the pipes for Castlegar and made 28 saves.
The teams are back at it tonight in Nelson.