Rebels start season with win

Each season the Cortlandt Rebels start their campaign at the Guy Mathews Thanksgiving Tournament at Ebersole Ice Rink in White Plains to prepare for the rigors of their Section 1 schedule.

That plan paid off handsomely on opening night, Nov. 26, when the Rebels defeated Rye Town/Harrison, which consists of players from Blind Brook, Port Chester, Rye Neck and Harrison, 7-1.

"That win meant a lot for us for sure," said Rebels junior goalie Brandon Di Benedetto. "A lot of us on the team didn't know how we would play together this year after losing so many players from our team last year. Rye Town/Harrison has always been one of our toughest games of the year and winning in such a dominating way gave me lots of hope for the rest of this season."

Di Benedetto helped ignite the Rebels to the victory by recording 32 saves and allowing just one goal.

“It definitely felt good to make a lot of those saves for the team,” Di Benedetto said. “The team showed up for me last night, so I had to show up for them and just tried to play how I’ve always been taught to play.”

Cortlandt jumped to a 4-0 lead after a scoreless first period, scoring three goals in the second period and the first goal of the third stanza.

Nate Herbert (1G, 1A), off an assist from Aidan Dzubak (2A), put the Rebels up 1-0 with 13:49 remaining in the second stanza. Six minutes and 29 seconds later, Hudson Tarkington (3G), courtesy of assists from Austin Oubina and Dzubak, scored to double the Rebels’ advantage.

An unassisted goal by Sean Foley (2G, 2A) toward the end of the second period and a score by Tarkington, off assists from Aiden Rau (3A) and Foley, with 12:32 left in the third period, extended the Rebels’ lead to 4-0.

“We came out hard and really surprised Rye Town/Harrison, who didn’t think we would have a chance after they dominated us last year,” Di Benedetto said. “We played simple hockey and didn’t try to overcomplicate the game and our first line definitely showed up big, coming out with 6 goals for the game.”

Rye Town/Harrison scored its lone goal to cut its deficit to 4-1, but goals by Foley, assisted by Herbert and Rau, Matthew Lennox, unassisted, and Tarkington, thanks to assists from Foley and Rau, finished the game’s scoring.

Three days later, the Rebels continued in the tournament on Nov. 29, losing to Mount Pleasant (Briarcliff, Hastings, Pleasantville, Valhalla, Westlake) 8-2. Tarkington (1G, 1A), Herbert (1G), Dzubak (1A), Stephen Kjartansson (17 saves) and Di Benedetto (22 saves) produced for Cortlandt.

For Kjartansson, the Rebels’ starting goalie, it was his first game in goal.

Cortlandt (1-2) lost its final tournament game on Nov. 30 to ETBE (Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont)/New Rochelle 3-1, led by Di Benedetto (27 saves), Tarkington (1G) and Caden Philippi (1A).