Tigers Defeat Rebels 3-2 OT

Alex Theriau was back in the lineup tonight.

First Period

Rebels would open the scoring Shorthanded

Tyler Bunz went behind the net to play the puck and took to long to get rid of it as rebel forward Turner Elson poked it into the slot and Adam Kambeitz one-timed a howitzer into the partially open net. 1-0 Rebels

The Tigers would answer immediately.

Some good Work by Rhyse Deino finishing his check in the corner led to the Rebel player not getting good wood on a clearing attempt. Dylan Bredo picked up the puck at the top of the circle and fired it top corner blocker side on Rebel Goalie Devan Dubyk. 1-1 Tie

Second Period


It looked like the Tigers were about to get a powerplay Scott Mckay had the puck in the corner, and a rebel Defender held him up along the boards. The refs hand went up and Mckay continued with the puck along the boards for a couple seconds.

Meawhile Rhyse Deino came over to support Mckay and gave a light brush to a rebel player also involved in the battle along the boards. The rebel player Joel Hamilton turned around and asked Deino to fight which he obliged.

Both players took some damage but the Rebel player was leaking after the fight. They both connected with a haymaker at the same time. It ended with Deino uppercutting rebel Joel Hamilton with the rebels Jersey over his head.

Here is a real head scratcher. The refs gave the rebels a 2 minute powerplay. They gave Deino a phantom holding penalty, and the original penalty going to the rebel defender for holding up Mckay never got called.

A few minutes later Mathew Dumba from the Rebels got a 2 minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The replay showed dumba coming in and stopping to the right of Bunz with a Tiger player standing by. So I'm guessing that was a makeup call.

However that penalty hurt the TIgers in a big way as THe rebels scored another short-handed goal. A bit of an unlucky play as Matt Konan couldn't keep a bouncing pass in at the point. Adam Kambeitz patiently waited for another rebel Justin Weller to join him and he shot it top shelf over a desperate Bunz. It appeared to originally be just a one on one but the Tigers were too laid back getting back to their zone.


Third Period

WIth time winding down and 4:45 left in the game, Emerson Etem ripped a wrist shot low glove passed Dubyk from the top of the circle. The Tigers would put quite a bit of pressure on afterwards.

With seconds left Cole Grbavac took a tripping penalty. A rebel forward was protecing the puck along the boards. Grbavac tried to dig it out with his stick between the Rebel players feet. The rebel players smartly took off to the left which resulted in him tripping over grbavacs stick.

Overtime
The Tigers managed to do a real good job at killing off the penalty. Lots of time was spent firing the puck outta the zone. MAthew Dumba had a good chance to win with a partial open net on a one-timer but it missed the net completely.

Emerson Etem would jump on a loose puck at his own blueline. The rebel defender failed to respect Etem's speed as Etem bounced the puck off the boards and burned by him.

As Etem made his way down the Ice the other Rebel defenseman was a half step behind and Etem made good use of his body to protect the puck from the oncoming slash and instead of going five-hole shot it under Dubyks arm to win the game.


Thoughts
I thought the Tigers looked not quite right tonight, the Rebels probably deserved a better fate in the game.

I thought the reffing had an off night. I could be wrong but it kinda looked like Mathew Dumba received a 2 minute misconduct penalty for being curteous and not spreaying Tyler Bunz with Ice-chips...as well as that hold/fight incident mentioned above. Their was also another instance where scott Mckay got levelled in the head with a cross check at the same time Dylan Bredo knocked over a rebel defender in a scrum and only Bredo was called.

Emerson Etem needs to start hustling back to the bench after a play. Their has been too many times where he just stops skating and sulks back to the bench. If I was coaching that would drive me insane. He used to score a lot of goals off turnovers from very good second efforts, I'd like to see him get back to that style of play.

I liked Grbavac's increased physicality. If they all finished their checks they would get more chances like Rhyse Deino developed tonight.


Also I have kept it in for a while but I have disliked the Tigers penalty Kill. The opposition forwards have all kinds of time to set things up or clear paths to shoot. The opponents basically have a free 10 foot zone on the outside to set anything they want up, and the Tigers dont get many chances to shoot the puck down the ice. Edit: Yes I know that the Tigers PK went 4/4 tonight, more of a statement of their overall play, not just tonights game.

Trade Deadline
I think this year will be a pretty tough trade deadline for the Tigers GM. He has a team that is pretty close but needs maybe an upgrade or three to be a strong legit contender.

But the Tigers look like they have an above average 94/95 age group that has lots of potential.( 2 years down the road they could be very good)

They are the types of players who are going to be definite key players down the road, compared with the 4th line/scratch depth players/prospects who have potential but are uncertain of turning out. The developed players the Tigers have are nearly untouchable.

If your looking for some whl trade rumours check out this thread(most of its BS but interesting nonetheless.)
http://www.whlfans.ca/showthread.php?p=176402#post176402