Rebels blank Blizzard, remain perfect at Telus Cup
Forward Michael Hill and goaltender Christian Purboo played key roles in helping the Mississauga Rebels move to 2-0 at the Telus Cup national midget hockey championship.
In a Tuesday afternoon game at CN Centre, Hill scored two goals – one of them shorthanded – and Purboo stopped all 34 shots he faced in a 4-0 win against the Saint-Francois Blizzard (0-2).
In the opening period, the Blizzard threw 16 shots at the Mississauga net but Purboo proved unbeatable. The Rebels, meanwhile, managed just five shots on goal but one of them went in – at the 3:54 mark, Massimo Petricca skated the puck into the Blizzard zone and fed a cross-crease pass to Blair Gendunov, who beat goalie William HardyMurray.
Half way through the second period, Saint-Francois was on a power play – its third of the game – but the 16-year-old Hill scored a shorthanded goal off a fortunate bounce. On the play, the Rebels sent the puck into the Blizzard zone and it ended up on the stick of Hill, who was in the slot in perfect shooting position.
The Rebels took their 2-0 lead into the third period and added two more goals in the last 20 minutes. Petricca found the Blizzard net at 11:22 and Hill capped the scoring at 13:42 when he charged down the left side of the ice and roofed a shot past Hardy-Murray.
The Blizzard outshot the Rebels 34-20. Both clubs went 0-for-6 on the power play.
The Rebels, the Central region champion, started the tournament with a 5-2 Monday victory over the Regina Pat Canadians. The Quebec champion Blizzard fell 2-1 to the Cape Breton West Islanders.
Today, the Rebels will try to keep their perfect record intact when they skate against the Leduc Chrysler Oil Kings at noon. The Blizzard will face the Regina Pat Canadians at 4 p.m. from the faceoff dot. The Islanders outshot the Oil Kings 12-7 in the first period but that was the only goal.
After a scoreless second, Timmons added to the Cape Breton lead at 3:14 of the third period when he found the fivehole on Leduc goaltender Easton Hesse. Stewart then pushed the Islanders into a 3-0 advantage before Ryan Straschnitzki got one back for the Oil Kings on a power play. But, in the final minute, Cape Breton’s Dylan MacDonald completed the scoring when he hit an empty net from his own goal line.
The Islanders outshot the Oil Kings 35-19. Goaltender Colten Ellis picked up his second win of the tournament and has allowed only two goals in two games.
The Islanders will have a chance to move to 3-0 when they square off against the Cariboo Cougars at 7:30 p.m. today at CN Centre. The Oil Kings will play the Mississauga Rebels (2-0) at noon.