Ryan Painter scored a hat trick, Matt Disher made 53 saves, and nine members of the Ottawa Rebel scored goals in its 13-10 victory over the expansion Vancouver Ravens on Sunday at the Corel Centre.

The Rebel was introduced to the 6,200 fans in the darkened Corel Centre amidst a thick cloud of smoke, with spotlights on each player as his name was announced. The home players were up for this game, having their game faces on when they went out for warmups forty-five minutes earlier.

The teams played end-to-end for the first four minutes before Ryan O'Conner opened the scoring for the Ravens. Mike Benedict soon scored his first as a Rebel, on a nice passing play from Dan Marohl and Chris Konopliff. The teams traded goals and Vancouver scored two more late, closing the first quarter with a 4-2 lead and ahead 19-9 in shots on goal.

The Rebel came back strong in the second quarter with four unanswered goals spread over ten minutes. It was Vancouver, though, which finished the quarter strong, with two goals in the final 1:35. At the half, the scoreboard read Ottawa 6, Vancouver 5.

The Ravens came out flying to start the third quarter, scoring two goals in the first five minutes to put the first-year team on a streak of four goals in a row. Ottawa rallied in the last half of the quarter with a power play strike from Ryan Painter, an even-strength goal from Jamie Roy and a shorthanded goal by Roy. 9-7 Rebel after forty-five minutes.

As in the earlier quarters, Vancouver outshot the Rebel in the final frame, but the Rebel scored four of the period's seven goals, leading to a 13-10 win, only their second victory (in fifteen tries) since moving to Ottawa from Syracuse a year ago and the first at Corel Centre.

The fact that the Rebel won despite being outshot, 63-46, is a testament of the awesome play of Matt Disher in front of the Ottawa net. If ever credit can be given to one player for a win by his team, this is that game. Disher's most memorable play actually started as an error -- after making a good save, he threw the ball, from his knees, to a sprinting Rebel, but Chris Gill, less than five feet from the goal, intercepts the pass and shoots it back at Disher, who calmly catches the ball, gets to his feet, and passes it out to another Rebel.

After the game, Disher said he thought he could make a good fast break pass for a quick scoring chance, noting that he knew Gill was good at jumping side to side but was surprised to see that he could also jump up.

Vancouver really pressed in the last five minutes, pulling goaltender Dwight Maetche with every possession. The move, a favorite of Marty Cooper's when the current Rebel coach led the Columbus Landsharks, almost backfired on the Ravens a few times.

In all, a very good game, although play seemed slow in the first half, with the teams feeling each other out and Ottawa waiting for the perfect shot (one reason for the difference in shots on goal). After intermission, play was a lot quicker and the teams' set plays were working better.

6,200 came out for the game, and, as usual, almost all of them stayed to the final buzzer. The smaller-than-normal attendance could be pinned on any number of factors, including the nice weather in Ottawa, the fact that the game was played during the day, and a season opener much earlier than in the past.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Vancouver Ravens (0-2)                4  1  2  3  --  10
Ottawa Rebel (1-0)                    2  4  3  4  --  13

VANCOUVER RAVENS              OTTAWA REBEL
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
K Goundrey     1 - 4     5    Lawson         2 - 2     4
Ansley         3 - 0     3    Benedict       1 - 3     4
Gill           2 - 1     3    Konopliff      1 - 3     4
Stevenson      2 - 1     3    Painter        3 - 0     3
Bowen          1 - 2     3    Roy            2 - 1     3
O'Connor       1 - 2     3    Tasse          1 - 1     2
Reisig         0 - 2     2    Marohl         0 - 2     2
Maetche        0 - 1     1    Raffan         0 - 2     2
B Murray       0 - 1     1    Evans          1 - 0     1
                              A Guindon      1 - 0     1
                              Tarbell        1 - 0     1
                              Disher         0 - 1     1
                              Lavery         0 - 1     1
                              Serr           0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           63    Shots on goal           46
Saves made by           33    Saves made by           53
   Maetche           33          Disher            53
Penalties               10    Penalties               10
Penalty Minutes         20    Penalty Minutes         20
Loose Balls             32    Loose Balls             35
   Ansley             5          Gelsvik            6
   O'Connor           5          Raffan             5
   K Goundrey         4          Serr               4

   *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH OTTAWA REBEL ***