Split earned in weekend for Rebels as race for third spot continues

Rebels salvage weekend

Photo: Submitted

The Castlegar Rebels lost 6-2 to the Quesnel River Rush on Saturday night at the CDCC.

A weekend of home cooking could only produce a split of two games for the Castlegar Rebels as the club lost some ground to the surging Spokane Braves.

Entering the weekend eight points up on the fourth-place Braves, the Rebels started the weekend with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Williams Lake Mustangs at home in front of 400 fans at the CDCC.

Jayden Spence netted the overtime winner at 4:41 with his seventh goal, while Jac Carli made 31 saves. Markus Thompson opened the scoring with his fifth goal 9:12 into the game.

The Mustangs forced the game into overtime when Alberto Kellgren scored on the power-play set up by JP Desabrais at 4:47 of the third period. Jaxson Dikur made 29 saves for the Mustangs.

On Saturday, the Quesnel River Rush were too much, too soon for the Rebels as the visitors scored twice in each period but the home side couldn’t match the pace, with the Rebels losing 6-2 at the CDCC with 370 witnessing the game.

Ian George (14) scored the winner and Rylan Benner made 23 saves for the River Rush with Lynden Donald-Gorman leading with two goals (20) and three points.

Brodie Davis scored twice (8) for Castlegar — with Myles Morton assisting on both goals — and Andrik Lygas made 25 saves.

For their part, the Braves picked up four points on the weekend, closing the division gap behind the Rebels to six points. The Braves are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games, but the Rebels are 5-4-1.