REBEL ALUMNI DAN O'DONOGHUE COMMITS TO MERCYHURST

May 2009

March 2009

Ex Rebel, Zach Hendrickson helped his Nichols College men’s hockey team win the ECAC Northeast Championship, defeating Wentworth, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Levy Rink. The title marks the first in program history for the Bison, who earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bison now await the NCAA Tournament bracket announcement Sunday evening to find out where they will make their first-ever appearance in the national championship tournament. Zach was a member of the Rebel Midget and Junior teams from 2000 to 2005.

January 2009

REBEL ALUMNI IDENTIFIED BY

First year New York Junior Bobcat forward Dan O'Donoghue, 6'4' 188lbs, has recently been identified by NHL Central Scouting as a player to watch for 2009 draft that will be held in Montreal Quebec. Dan is a strong skater with above average skill who plays a hardnosed game at both ends of the ice. Dan is coming out of Midget hockey on LI where he played for the Long Island Rebels and last season helped the LI Royals win the Midget 16U New York State Championship. Look for Dan and his New York Junior Bobcat teammates to make a run for the AJHL League Championship this season. 
 

December 29, 2006   With equipment on tarmac somewhere in Europe, Moscow North Stars get helping hand.  The sweaters were too big, maybe some of the skates, too, but the Moscow North Stars shrugged it all off yesterday and grew into the equipment in the space of an hour.  They grew in other ways in the eyes of many, too.

The North Stars played the Long Island Rebels to a 1-1 tie at the Orleans Recreation Complex yesterday in a minor peewee AA game in the Bell Capital Cup, played them tough and hard in equipment that was begged and borrowed. They definitely didn't steal their point.

Thanks to a tremendous outpouring of support from the businesses and people of the national capital region (did you expect anything less, really?), the North Stars were able to play yesterday despite their own equipment being
left behind on an airport tarmac in Europe while they made their way here. The call went out at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.  It was answered.  Oh my, how it was answered.

By 9:30 a.m. yesterday, the North Stars had enough gear to take to the ice. The North Stars wore big Senators sweaters yesterday, thanks to, well, the Senators, who also supplied the socks. They wore skates from the Play It  Again Sports sporting goods store in O rleans.  Bell Canada, M&M Fournel's Corp. Ltd., Rogers Television and the Gowling, Lafleur and Henderson LLP law firm donated various items of hockey gear.

Individuals and teams chipped in, including cash donations that amounted to more than $6,000. "Without the friendly citizens of Canada, we couldn't play," said North Stars coach Dmitry Afanasiev through interpreter Oksana Mikhilsov. "We just have (the equipment) because they helped. We thank you so much."  This is
one of the stories that will go down in Bell Capital Cup lore, one of those wonderful stories that transcends the game.

Even the Rebels got in on the act, loaning the North Stars a couple of their white sweaters, the No. 22 of Christopher Calandra and the No. 88 of Brandon Gaynor.  "I feel horrible for them, coming all that way and not having their equipment," said Bob O'Shaughnessy, one of the Rebels coaches. "Considering they didn't have their own equipment ... I know when I was a kid what it was like not to have my own skates.  "I think they played great. I think (them not having their equipment) was to our benefit. It was a treat to see them play."

When it was over, Calandra waited in the hallway until the Russian player, who said his name was Sasha, came out of the North Stars dressing room, still wearing the Rebels sweater over his street clothes. He reluctantly peeled it off as the Rebels need it for future games.

"My guys were upset they didn't have their jerseys with them. They all brought extra ones hoping to exchange them after the game," said O'Shaugnessy. "They're disappointed because they heard that's a tradition with Russian teams."

Even with the borrowed equipment, the skill of the Russian kids shone through. They scored just 19 seconds into the game with Vladimir Brukvin, an eyecatcher with the North Stars, tapping a puck into the open side. The North Stars ran into penalty trouble after that as they had trouble interpreting the "no contact" rule.  "We were not ready. We knew the rules were different from our rules, we knew there was no contact, but we didn't
think it was no contact at all, like a walk in the park or a game with your friends," said Afanasiev.

The North Stars played most of the first period short-handed, including a couple of long stretches when they were down two men with a third in the box waiting for his minor to start. It finally caught up to them at 7:41 of the first as Peter Harrington scored at the end of a 5-on-4 power play that had followed a 45-second 5-on-3.

"Without a doubt, they are a very skillful team. On those 5-on-3s in the first period, they seemed to control the play a lot better than we did. I thought it was typical Russian hockey.  "They regrouped well and they were
very aggressive," said O'Shaughnessy. The goaltenders took over from there with Rebels goaltender Trevor Vankampen making a spectacular toe save to save the Rebels' share of the tie with just
a couple of seconds left in the game. North Stars goaltender Vyacheslav Volkov was also outstanding.

Mikhilsov said the North Stars were hoping to have their equipment catch up to them last night.  "The boys are okay, but we need our equipment. We hope and believe it will get here," she said.  "It's very different to not skate
in your skates," said Afanasiev. "As soon as we get our skates, we'll be better. Then we can show Russian hockey in Canada."

It wound up a tie game, but this will go down in Bell Capital Cup history as one of those days where everybody came out a winner.

Hockey Country lived up to its name, again.