That save maintained a one-goal margin for the Rebels, and on the ensuing faceoff Liam Hansson dished off a pass to Valerii Rykov for an empty-net goal to give the hosts a 4-2 win over the Generals in North American Hockey League East Division play.

That win lifts head coach Joe Coombs and company to 6-13-0-2 on the year while Northeast falls to 9-11-1-1. The teams will meet again tonight at 7 p.m.

The Rebels have struggled thus far to replace a host of talented players from last year’s roster, many of whom have now gone on to play either in the USHL or for collegiate programs.

All NAHL teams are expected to have a high turnover rate during the offseason, but the Rebels have been met with a higher level of difficulty in that department than many of their competitors.

Jamestown Rebels’ Spencer Cosway circles behind his net during NAHL East Division action against the Northeast Generals on Friday at Northwest Arena.

“We’ve got 18 or 19 new bodies,” Coombs said after the win. “You have a whole different team at this level every year. It’s just most years you get eight, 10, 12 guys back and you get a lot of leadership out of a group of people. This year we are getting leadership out of four guys who are trying to take a lot on and get guys to understand what it takes to be successful in this league. Losing the amount of guys we had to the USHL, we had six guys that should be back here and they’re not, which is OK. But I think with six guys back here we are talking about a Robertson Cup instead of trying to work our way back into a playoff spot.”

The lack of experience was evident in the first period, as Northeast hit home on a string of breakaway passes to begin the night.

After West made his opening save on a streaking Tyler Cooper, the Rebels were able to return the favor with a breakaway of their own. In the fourth minute of play Nick Siffringer flipped a lob up to Jordan Cormier, who went in alone and was able to finish off a backhand deke for a 1-0 win.

That momentum did not last long, as Liam McCanney took advantage of a misplayed puck deep in the Rebels’ defensive zone, roofing a finish past West to even the game.

Jamestown struggled to stop the bleeding after that quick turnaround, giving up another breakaway to Ethan Destefani a minute later as West was hung out to dry on a low forehand that was tucked under his pad.

“We gave up three breakaways in the first five minutes of the game,” Coombs said. “I think our guys still have to figure out how hard they have to play to be successful.”

The Rebels would pick up their play after going down by a goal, with Tyler German and Renars Karkls letting shots go on Northeast goaltender Joey Stanizzi before things were brought back to even at 2-2.

The equalizer came when Valentino Passarelli came streaking in over the right circle and fired a pass across looking for Noah Finstrom. That cross-ice feed took a wild bounce in front of the net and found its way past the sliding Northeast netminder.

With a green roster, it was no surprise that Eric Olson provided the Rebels with some much-needed experience down the stretch.

The Jamestown captain would finish off a loose puck at 10:03 of the second period after dragging his defender to the center of the ice and ripping a shot over the shoulder of Stanizzi for the eventual game-winner.

In the waning minutes of regulation, Olson would also pick up a crucial blocked shot after the Generals were granted a power play.

“He was unbelievable,” Coombs said of his captain. “That’s why he is out there in that situation. If I’m on the bench I’m going, ‘I want to be out there.’ OK great, that’s what you’ve got to do to be out there.”

Northeast and Jamestown would both strike out two times with the man-advantage, with West stopping 30 shots and Stanizzi 30 as well.