Rebels Defeat Tigers 4-0

  Rebel Connections
Rhyse Dieno made his return to the arena. I thought he played well with 1 assist and a +2 rating for the rebels. He was playing in the rebels top 6.

The rebels also have another Tiger Connection as Joel Hamilton is Wacey Hamilton's Brother.

Rebel Thoughts

I thought the Rebels worked pretty hard throughout the game, they had a few lapses but the Tigers couldn't bury their chances. I thought Patrik Bartosak looked really good in net challenging shooters with his positioning, often coming out of the blue paint and didn't give up many rebounds.

I was impressed by 16 year old defenseman (#4) Haydn Fleury for the Rebels.




Curtis Valk (Possible Suspension)
Curtis Valk was assessed a 5 minute major for boarding and a game misconduct after pushing a falling rebels player into the boards. I know he was frustrated but it was a dumb play. Valk's penalty will be automatically reviewed by the league and I will not be surprised to see him suspended. The player wasn't hurt but the intention of the play will surely get him at least a game or two.

Valk was obviously frustrated as he was mobbed a few times during the game and didn't get any calls from the zebras.

Tiger Thoughts
It was the Tigers 4th game in 5 days.  I thought Gavin Broadhead played really well. I also thought Elgin Pearce played really well. Broadhead's dog like determination and physical presence was excellent to see. I liked how he was put on the penalty kill late in the game. I think that is an area he could excel at.


I thought the young guys played well. I was a little surprised by how well Matt Staples played, he looked like a veteran in the 3rd period.

 Guys like Leier, and Bredo received a lot of ice-time and you could see their legs were toast.

I didn't mind the effort of the Tigers tonight because they were a tired group. Despite being outworked the rebels didn't really create a whole lot of prime opportunities until they split the game open with a couple goals Lanigan normally stops.

At one point the Tigers were buzzing the rebels end with constant pressure for a good 2-3 shifts. Then the rebels next rush up the ice saw 3 players head over to the puck carrier and ignore the guy coming down the middle. That killed any chance of a comeback.

The Tigers did miss Hunter Shinaruk a lot. If Valk does happen to get suspended the next game against calgary could be ugly.


PK
I think their is one element of the Rebels game the Tigers could use on their penalty kill.

Whenever the Tigers "walked the point" on the powerplay 1 rebel forward would stay up high to cover the dman, the other forward would fall back to form a triangle to protect the front of the net and cross ice passes.

 If the defenseman went D to D the 2nd forward would come back up and cross over to cover the points again. Often times we see a large gap in the middle of the ice opposition teams sometimes are able to exploit.


Next Games
Unfortunately I will be unable to recap either weekend game against Calgary or Edmonton.