This past weekend marked the first regular season home games for the Rebels. Their new home, the Northwest Arena in Jamestown, NY is a gorgeous facility to house a Tier II North American Hockey League team. The Rebels came into this past weekend with a record of 4-4. They have split every set of games since the regular season started. Leading up to their opening weekend on their new ice, the Rebels knew the back-to-back games against the second place New Jersey Titans were not going to be easy.
When the Rebels were introduced for the first time on Friday, it was in front of an electrifying crowd 753 fans. Once the introductions concluded it was time for them to put their game faces on and get to work. The first period for the Rebels was very successful as they were able to score first thanks to an Alex Frye goal, assisted by Roy and Stuckless. Both teams put up seven shots after the first 20 minutes of play, but it was the Rebels who had the 1-0 lead to start the second period. The middle period saw another lone goal scorer but this time it was in favor of the visiting team. Cam Gendron for the Titans who had not scored since the Titans first regular season game back on September 14th, got the goal to tie the game. After forty minutes of back and forth hockey, the Titans scored two more goals in the third to give them a 3-1 lead with time ticking away in the third. Late in the third period the Titans took a penalty, giving the Rebels their third power play of the game. Going into this weekend the Rebels only had two power-play goals, both coming while they were at the NAHL Showcase. With Ryan Keane pulled at the time giving them a 6-on-4 power play, it was Sam Anzai that beat Matt Ladd pull his team within one, assisted by Roy and Price. Unfortunately, it would not be enough for the Rebels as time expired in the game, giving them their first loss on home ice and now putting their record at 4-5 on the season.
On Saturday, the Rebels looked to rebound after dropping their home opener. This time both teams made changes to their netminders. For the Rebels, it was Noah West and for the Titans it was Brandon Perrone. Saturday’s game was surely different than the game just 24 hours prior to it. As Cam Gendron scored on the power play to give his team the lead going into the locker room after the first period concluded. In the second period the physicality stepped up from both sides as not only hits were being thrown left and right, but so were fists. At the 7:25 mark in the second, there were two fights that broke out. The first one was between Augistine Moore (JMT) and Mac Wiseman (NJT). The other fight was between Lewis Crosby (JMT) and Kyler Head (NJT). Both were great fights and sure did get the crown on their feet. Prior to the fight though Auggie Moore scored, assisted by Crosby and Felker, to tie the game at 1-1. After things settled down, Alex Frye scored a rocket of a one-timer on the power play after the rebound came right to him at the right face-off dot. The Rebels had now doubled their power play goals in the span of just two games. Shortly after Frye’s goal though Craig McCabe and Kyle Jeffers scored just 21 seconds apart to give the Titans the one goal lead again. Once the third period began the Titans picked up where they left off in the second period scoring two more goals, one of them scored by Cam Gendron, his forth of the weekend. Lukas Uhler tried to give the Rebels some momentum as he scored with just under seven minutes left to play, Rebels now trailed by a pair. Kyle Jeffers scored with four minutes left in the game to seal the deal for the Titans and give them the weekend sweep over the Rebels.
While the Rebels may have lost both games on opening weekend, there are some positives to take away from the weekend. There are still 26 more home games to be played at the Northwest Arena, and hopefully the Rebels can add more to that by bringing playoff hockey to Jamestown. Another positive is that the power play has improved. The Rebels went 2/7 on the man advantage, as stated earlier they came into opening weekend with only two power-play goals. The power play is a key component to any hockey team as it can really change the outcome of a game, if a team has a strong power-play unit. One final note to take away from opening weekend is that it is still early in the season and there is a lot of hockey left to be play. This weekend the Rebels square off against the newest NAHL team, the Maryland Black Bears. The Black Bear are just three points ahead of the Rebels in the division and if the Rebels are hoping to gain their first weekend sweep it must come this weekend against the Black Bears. If the Rebels can sweep it will give them an even record once again and could possibly move them into forth or third place. The Rebels will be getting back Antonio Ventuo who did not play this past weekend because he was serving his twos game suspension for spearing, which he picked up in the second game against the Tomahawks two weeks ago. The Rebels also look forward to having back Seth Bergeron on defense who suffered a jaw injury weeks ago and is hoping to get cleared before the team departs for Maryland on Thursday. The next set of home games will be against the WBS/Knights on October 26th and 27th who are only three points ahead of the Rebels. These next two weeks are crucial for the Rebels, so look for them to set the tone early and not hold back.
