Attleboro, Mass. – Coming off of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament the Northeast Generals NAHL team welcomed East Division opponent the Philadelphia Rebels to the Village for a two game series on Thursday and Friday. The tightly contested pair of games saw a 4-2 Philly win on Thursday, and a 2-0 shutout for the Generals on Friday.
Keeping with the theme of the season series between the Gens and Rebels, Northeast opened the scoring with a pair of goals in the opening frame. First, at the 16:09 mark of the period while shorthanded Emerson Miller caused a turnover at the Generals blue line. Nick Ramm swooped in for possession and sprung Jacob Wilson on a breakaway with a pass through the neutral zone. Wilson moved in on the Rebels goal and fired a shot under the glove of Jakub Krbecek for his second goal of the season.
Less than a minute later at 16:42 the top two point scorers in the NAHL came together on a 2-on-1 to extend the Gens lead. Andrew DellaDonna laid a hit on the far side of the neutral zone just in front of the Gens bench to cause a turnover and lead possession to Doug Friberg. The defenseman played the puck up the far side wall to Dave Andreychuk who entered the Philadelphia zone with Paul Minnehan alongside him. Andreychuk laid an area pass in front of Krbecek that Minnehan received and backhanded into the back of the net.
A two goal second period for the Rebels tied the game ahead of the third period. Just about halfway through the game at the 9:59 point of the second Luke deVries took advantage of a powerplay opportunity and found the back of the net to cut the deficit in half. David Deputy followed up 2 minutes later at 11:31 with his first goal of the game to tie it at 2 a piece.
Deputy scored his second of the game to give the Rebels the lead 9:36 into the third period. Deputy walked around the Generals defense and towards the net where he tucked the puck around Cullen DeYoung.
Despite pushing to tie the game in the late stages of the third the Generals took a penalty which led to an empty net, power play goal for Max Hamstad with 1:34 to play in regulation. In the end Philadelphia went 2-8 on the powerplay in the 4-2 win.
DeYoung (9-10-0-1) stopped 21 of 24 shots sent his way while Krbecek (16-14-0-1) stood tall in the Rebels crease stopping 38 of 40 Generals shots for the win.
Riding a modest 4 game losing streak the Generals came out with a different looking lineup in hopes of stopping the skid.
Again, the Generals struck first. This time it was the University of Maine commit Ryan Remick that found the back of the net. At the 12:24 mark Remick carried the puck into the offensive zone on the near side. Ryan Schelling joined the rush on the far side and acted as a decoy as Remick pulled a toe drag around a sliding defender and fired a shot under the glove of Krbecek.
The single goal was enough to earn the win, but the Gens added an insurance marker just to make sure with 1:51 to play in regulation. Andreychuk won a faceoff back to Matt DeSpirt who gave the puck to Minnehan in the far side corner of the Generals zone. From around 195 feet Minnehan sent the puck down the ice and into the empty goal for his 24th goal of the season. For Andreychuk it was his 46th assist of the campaign which leads the league. Andreychuk and Minnehan are #1 and #2 in the league for points with 60 and 55 respectfully.
Toby Hopp (14-4-2-0) stopped all 22 shots against him for his first career Junior Hockey shutout. Krbecek made his second straight start in as many nights but was as fortunate in game two earning the loss while saving 31 of 32 shots.
Next up for the Generals is a three game series against fellow New England team the Maine Nordiques. Games one and two are at the Village on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. while game three is in Lewiston, ME at the Colisée on Sunday at 3 p.m.
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