The Summerland Steam will host the Castlegar Rebels tonight at the Summerland Arena as they look to get back on track with a win. Their last game came Tuesday evening against the division rival North Okanagan Knights, where they were stymied by a hot goalie in Zach Dyment and took a tough 3-1 defeat.
What You Need To Know:
Tonight they turn their attention to the Castlegar Rebels. In one previous meeting this season the two teams found themselves in a 2-2 tie after 65 minutes and each walked away with a point. The Rebels sit third in the Neil Murdoch division with a 14-10-1-3 record and they come into Summerland riding a 3 game win streak with wins over Golden and North Okanagan, with the latest victims being the Spokane Braves.
The Steam come in tonight with an even .500 winning percentage on the season sitting at 12-12-1-1, good enough for fourth place in the Okanagan Division. They will be looking to start another winning streak tonight and try to make up some ground on the teams directly above them, the North Okanagan Knights and the Osoyoos Coyotes.
3 Keys To The Game
1) The Power Play
The Steam have struggled on the power play of late, most noticeably in the final minutes of their last game which saw a failure to convert on 2 full minutes of 5-on-3 man advantage late in a one-goal game. The Neil Murdoch division in which the Rebels play is a much bigger, more physical division that plays a much more hard-nosed brand of hockey. The Steam will look to make an advantage out of that by drawing some penalties tonight and trying to score with the man advantage.
2) Traffic
The Steam have to be sure to drive traffic to the front of the Castlegar net. When the Steam are at their best they are playing physically below the goal line and driving shots from the points with traffic in front, and they have to make sure they're doing that tonight if they want to come out of the rink with the two points.
3) Tight Defense
The Castlegar Rebels have a high powered attack and their offense is hot at the moment. They've scored 19 goals in their past three games and have a big forward group who will for sure come with some bite. The Steam will have to do a better job than in previous games in their defensive zone making sure to limit turnovers and make a clear off the glass rather than trying to pass the puck out of the zone.
The puck drops at 7:30 at the Summerland Arena and tickets at the door are just $8. Make sure to come out and support local Jr. hockey if you can! If not, we'll have all the action with myself and Dave on the KIJHL Webcast starting just before puck drop at 7:25
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