Goalies too much for shooters as Rebels and Leafs exchange shutout wins
By Bruce Fuhr
The Castlegar Rebels rebounded from a heart-breaking road loss in a big way, stopping the Leafs cold Saturday night at the Complex.
Brenden Heinrich scored midway through the second period and goalie Jordan Gluck continued his home dominance over the West Kootenay rivals sparking the Rebels to a 1-0 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League victory in Castlegar.
It was the second time in as many games Gluck has shutout the Leafs — both by 1-0 scores.
The win moves the Rebels back into top spot in the Murdoch Division standings, one point ahead of the Beaver Valley Nitehawks and two in front of the Leafs.
Castlegar has played two more games than Beaver Valley.
Kamloops Storm edged the Hawks 2-1 Saturday in Fruitvale.
“I thought we out played them and out chanced them, (Rebel goalie Jordan) Gluck just made some big saves and key times,” said Leaf coach Frank Maida.
“We just didn’t seem to have our puck luck tonight,” Maida added.
“Thirty-seconds after they scored we hit the post then had a late power play but Gluck made some key saves for them.”
The game was the second one-goal contest in the season series between the two Murdoch rivals and third time the match-up ended with a shutout.
The other contest ended in a rare tie.
“These are two fairly even teams,” Maida confessed. “We have a great rivalry against Castlegar and our boys really look forward to playing every time we play them.”
Friday, two goals in less than two minutes was the difference as Nelson edged Castlegar 3-0.
The goals, by Matthew Naka and Colton McCarthy, came early in the third period.
Jacob Boyczuk scored an insurance marker into the empty net.
Nelson started both contests with only five defenceman due to injury bug that has hampered the blueline — one of the rearguards being converted forward Linden Horswill.
And for the second game Nelson finished the game with only four D-men.
“I’m looking forward to getting healthy on the blueline and see where we’re at,” Maida said. “So far I’ve been very pleased with our how the defence and goaltending is playing.”
The Leafs have a full week of practice before resuming play Friday with a home doubleheader.
North Okanagan Kings open the two-game set before Grand Forks Border Bruins pay a visit to the NDCC Arena Saturday.
Both puck drops are at 7 p.m.
Sunday Nelson makes its first visit to Spokane to face the Braves in an afternoon tilt.
Castlegar has a short week before traveling to Grand Forks Thursday.
ICE CHIP: Nelson defencemen Cam Weir and Cole Arcuri watched both games and are listed as day-to-day . . .. Rookie forward Damin Devlin also is on the sidelines after serving two of his three game suspension for removing his helmet during a fight against Chase Heat, October 7. . . .KIJHL teams have been experiencing problems with league website. The site was down Saturday which made it impossible for Castlegar executive to post the game stats to the website. KIJHL webmaster Harold Hazelaar said the problem is due to an issue with the website host which the league has no control over.
