SEWELL, NJ – The Philadelphia Rebels (2-3-0-0, 4 pts) played in front of a packed Hollydell Arena on Friday night, dropping the game 5-0 to the Maryland Black Bears (6-1-0-0, 12 pts). The game was the Rebels’ home opener for the 2022-23 NAHL season. Both teams played a physical game right from the opening faceoff.
The Black Bears opened the scoring, just over a minute into the game when Hunter Ramos took a cross-ice pass from Samuel Stitz and had an empty net to shoot at. Philadelphia spent much of the first period defending, having a hard time finding any sustained offensive pressure. The Rebels were given a two-minute power play due to a Black Bear tripping minor, but Philadelphia was unable to capitalize.
Maryland finished the period with 14 shots, compared to Philadelphia’s seven.
The second period began with a minute and a half of powerplay time for the Rebels, which began with a short-handed goal for Maryland. Dimitry Kebreau scored on a short-handed breakaway, beating Jakub Krbecek glove side on a shot that went off the right post and in. Gabriel Westling was able to spring Kebreau for the goal. Maryland nearly went up 3-0 after another shot rang off the post five minutes into the period.
On a Maryland power play midway through the second, Kebreau scored again to put the Black Bears up 3-0. The goal marked his second of the night and fourth of the season. Brad McNeil and Quinn Kennedy had the helpers on Kebreau’s tally.
Maryland added two more goals with less than a minute remaining in the second period. Jesse Horacek potted the first on a rebound and Kebreau finished off a hat trick with his third goal of the game shortly after.
The Rebels opened the third period with Jack Fialkoff in net, relieving Krbecek. Krbecek stopped 33 of 38 shots in a busy 40 minutes of work. Fialkoff’s first two saves came on breakaways early in the third as he made 20 third-period stops.
The Rebels got strong goaltending on Friday night and will look to lighten the load on their netminders in Saturday night’s series finale.
Puck-drop on Saturday will be at 7:30 at Hollydell Ice Arena and can be seen on HockeyTV. Admission will be free for all fans.
