SIX NATIONS — At the beginning of the season, the Rebels defeated the Hamilton Bengals 11-8. But as the season has progressed and the Bengals have taken full advantage of new coaching staff, the Bengals took a win versus the Rebels on their home turf last Friday.
This made for one of the best games to see for spectators as the two teams played a long game of back and forth.
One minute into the period, the Rebels came out hot and Kobe Whitcomb scored from the draw unassisted. This seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game, but the Rebels weren’t quite connecting with the back of the net as much as they usually do.
And the Bengals took full advantage.
Five minutes into the period and for a good half of it, the goals went in one after another. Six goals were racked up onto the scoreboard for the visiting team in the course of ten minutes, and the Rebels were left with a large deficit to compensate.
With two minutes left in the period Justin Martin buried from Gates Abrams, from Mason Hill ending the period 2-6.
The second period allowed the Rebels to play catch up, but the Bengals were keen on keeping their lead. One minute into the period Mason Hill buried his first and Wesley Whitlow followed suit two minutes later. Kahn General also put one inside shot into the net and one more unassisted. This brought them to up to a tie with the Bengals, who then focused on returning.
They returned three goals to maintain their lead, but Gates Abrams scored his first and Riley Miller buried to close the period at 8-9 for the Bengals.
The third period was the last chance for the Rebels to try to earn a steady lead, and Wesley Whitlow was the first to try with his second goal. But the Bengals broke the tie a few minutes later. Unwilling to give up, Abrams fought to the net and scored the last goal for the Rebels for the period. While, the Bengals broke the tie with an unassisted goal from Sam English.
This finalized the game 10-11 for the Bengals.
But the loss was taken well as the Rebels are still top of the South West standings with 35 points — which is 9 points ahead of the Bengals.
For their final regular game of the season, the Rebels will host the Wallaceburg Red Devils on Friday, June 15 at the ILA at 8 p.m.
