Leafs rock Rebels 9-1 en route to five-point weekend
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Castlegar Rebels paid in spades for spoiling the Nelson Leafs unbeaten start to the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League season Saturday night.
After spotting the Rebels a 1-0 lead, Nelson scored nine unanswered goals en route to a convincing 9-1 shellacking of Castlegar Sunday afternoon at the NDCC Arena in the rematch of the home-and-home series between the two West Kootenay rivals.
The win gives Nelson (8-0-1-1) a three-point advantage after a tough three-game Thanksgiving stint against two of the Murdoch Division heavyweights Beaver Valley and Castlegar.
“That’s for sure that was definitely a bounce-back game for us after losing in overtime (to Castlegar) last night,” said Nelson forward Brandon Sookro following his four-point game to lead the Leafs scoring attack.
After defeating the Leafs 3-2 in overtime Saturday thanks to a Derek Georgopoulos extra time marker, the visitors continued carry the momentum when Lindan Calliou scored on Nelson netminder Tyler Moffat less than three minutes into the game.
Aaron Dunlap tied the game two minutes later before Nelson unleashed its offence in the final 40 minutes, scoring four times in each of the second and third periods.
“I thought we played good (Saturday) we just couldn’t capitalize on our chances,” Sookro explained. “(Today) we were moving our feet more and obviously capitalizing on those chances.”
Sookro was one of the fast skating Leaf forwards, as twice he walked around Castlegar defenders to put the puck past Rebel goalie Nate Rabbitt, who had a strong case for suing his teammates for non-support through the latter stages of the game.
Nelson scored twice early in the second as Travis Wellman, on the power play, and Blair Andrews increased the lead to 3-1.
Before the period ended Carsen Willans and Sookro, with his first of two in the game, increased the advantage to four goals.
The onslaught continued for the Leafs as Sookro, Matthew Naka, with his first of two in the game, and Dunlap, with his second goal, completed the scoring.
The nine goals saw Rabbitt chased from the goal, replaced by backup Patrick Zubick.
Nelson held a wide margin in shots, with a 42-20 advantage.
The Leafs have a week to prepare for another round of Murdoch Division tests as Beaver Valley Nitehawks return to the Heritage City for a Friday contest.
Saturday Nelson travels to Grand Forks to face the improved Grand Forks Border Bruins.
LEAF NOTES: A five-point weekend made Family Weekend a success for the franchise. Every year Leaf management invites player parents to Nelson to watch a few games. . . .Jamie Vlanich of the Leafs and Seth Schmidt of Castlegar, got an early shower Sunday after exchanging blows during a second-period fight. . . . Vlanich had two points to move into second spot in KIJHL scoring. Teammate Travis Wellman finished with four points, including his KIJHL leading 14th and 15th goals, to move into a tie for fifth spot in league scoring. . . .Sunday, assistant coaches Sean Dooley of the Leafs and Castlegar’s Bruno Tassone got into a jawing match at the team benches during the second period and were ejected from the game. . . .Matthew Naka and Aaron Dunlap each finished the game with three points while Carsen Willans and Blair Andrews checked in with two points. . . . Tyler Moffat played all three games during the weekend to run his season record to 6-1. . . . Saturday, Castlegar rallied from a 2-0 deficit with goals from Diego Bartlett. Vlanich and Linden Horswill scored for the Leafs. Nelson out shot the Rebels 41-33 in the contest.
