The visiting Maine Nordiques defeated the Rebels 5 – 3 in a matinee game this afternoon. After Friday and Saturday night’s games were postponed due to the tragic events in Lewiston, ME, the teams were able to play at least one game and salvage the weekend.
The start of the contest was very somber with both teams wearing helmet stickers to honor the fallen along with an 18 second moment of silence for the 18 individuals who loss their life in this past Wednesday’s shooting.
The mood changed just 2:24 into the game when Otto Polakovs put the Rebels on the board. After Charles Panchisin brought the puck into the offensive zone, he passed it back to Kris Samitis at the bottom of the near side faceoff circle. Samitis skated to corner and sent a pass to Polakovs who took a sharp angle shot that beat Nordiques netminder Thomas Heaney high short side for Polakovs’ eighth goal of the season.
Brock Jones made it 2 – 0 with seven minutes remaining in the period. Luke deVries brought the puck from his own near side end wall and passed it up to Tyler Stern. As Stern gained the line, he stopped the hash marks and made a centering pass out to Jones who took a long wrist shot from the top of the circle and beat Heaney.
With 4:11 left in the third, Paddy Fortune game the Rebels a 3 – 0 lead. Fortune brought the puck up along the far side boards and into the Nordiques zone. As he reached the hash marks, he passed the biscuit back to Josh Galizia at the top of the circle. Galizia took a clapper that was saved by Heaney but the rebound game right out to Fortune who slid the puck through Heaney’s five hole for Fortune’s first goal of the season.
Carter Richardson replaced Heaney between the pipes for the Nordiques.
Just seventeen seconds later, Maine’s Cole Hipkin made a centering pass out front from the far side corner to Nils Forselius who deked around Rebels goalie Jack Fialkoff and lifted the biscuit into the back of the net to make it a 3 – 1 game.
Laurent Trepanier brought the Nordiques within one with 9:30 remaining in the middle stanza. As Maine’s powerplay had just concluded, Jake Bernadet took a wrist shot from the near side wall that was redirected by Trepanier out front and past Fialkoff for Trepanier’s second of the season.
Twenty-five seconds later Maine’s Nick Ramm knotted the score at three when he stripped Rebels defenseman Evan Johnson of the puck in front of Fialkoff and Ramm shot it long side to beat Fialkoff.
Forselius made it 4 – 3 just thirty-six seconds into the third period when he skated down the far side boards and into the offensive zone. As he cut across the goal mouth, he slid the puck through Fialkoff’s five hole and into the back of the net.
Nick Romeo scored an empty net goal with eight seconds remaining in regulation to close out the scoring and make it a 5 – 3 game. Fialkoff stopped 44 of 48 shots while Heaney and Richardson combined to turn aside 15 of 18. Click here for the complete box score.
The Rebels will now go a bye week and will resume action the weekend of November 10 when they travel to Johnstown when they play a two-game series against the Tomahawks.
