Rebels ride hot goaltender to earn 4-1 decison
One had to wonder what the Red Deer Rebels discussed during the second intermission at Prospera Place after the first 40 minutes of play against the Kelowna Rockets.
The Rebels were effectively a “no show” to that point as the Rockets effort and territorial play advantage had the hosts poised to administer an absolute drubbing. In front of 4,526 fans, Kelowna peppered the Rebels goal with 26 shots, while allowing the visitors only eight shots on goal.
It wasn’t even close.
However, Rebels goaltender Riley Lamb emerged as the star of the show, playing the leading role as Red Deer hung around long enough to escape with the win, ensuring the Rockets would turn something into nothing.
Lamb stifled the Rockets through 40 minutes, making at least a handful of outstanding saves to give his team a chance to win. Indeed, the Rebels finally mustered a response, scoring four times in the final frame to waltz out of Kelowna with a very important two points.
The victory for Red Deer, combined with the Saskatoon Blades 3-2 win in Cranbrook over the Kootenay Ice, lifted the Rebels into a third place tie in the Central Division with the Ice. While Red Deer has no hope of securing a wild card berth in the eastern conference post-season, the third-place finisher in its division makes the playoffs.
Red Deer opened the scoring, striking early in the third period with an even strength tally at the 2:19 mark.
Import defenceman Alexander Alexeyev drilled a shot from the point that was blocked by Ted Brennan, but the Rebels rearguard chased down the puck. He moved toward the Rockets net, froze goaltender Brodan Salmond at the near post then sifted a pass out front to Josh Tarzwell, who buried his eighth of the season into an empty cage.
Midway through the period, the Rockets equalized on the power play.
Kyle Topping, the only Rockets forward to appear in each of the team’s 57 games this season, took a slick pass from Leif Mattson and one-timed a shot stick side past Lamb. It was Topping’s 19th of the season at 10:10.
But the Rebels went ahead to stay 58 seconds later when Brandon Hagel, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, took a long stretch pass from Ethan Sakowich and broke in home-free on Salmond. Hagel, who had been stoned by Salmond on a previous breakaway just moments earlier, ripped a shot in for the game winner, his 10th goal of the season.
Reese Johnson added an insurance marker at 13:29 on a Rebels power play with a nifty deflection of a Dawson Barteaux point shot. Barteaux would also factor in Mason McCarty’s empty netter with 59 seconds remaining.
The Rebels win was its first in Kelowna since a 6-4 victory on November 9, 2011. That’s a run of seven straight losses for Red Deer at Prospera Place.
Kelowna entered the match with 34 wins on the year, including 20 on home ice. Red Deer arrived on its brief swing through B.C. with only 18 wins on the season.
Despite its record, the Rebels have been on a tear of late, winning nine of its last 12 games while earning a point in 11 of those games. The play of goaltender Ethan Anders, the WHL Rookie of the Month for January, and Lamb, the winner in each of his last five starts, has been instrumental in the Rebels resurgence.
The Rockets are now 34-18-4-1 and tied for first place in the B.C. Division with Victoria with 73 points. The Royals salvaged a loser point in its 7-6 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Vancouver Island.
Red Deer (19-26-10-3) now travels to Victoria to face the Royals on Friday night before a date in Langley with the Vancouver Giants on Sunday.
The Rockets travel to Kamloops on Friday, then return to host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday.
Ice chips…Kelowna outshot Red Deer 37-18…Three stars were Lamb, Hagel and Cal Foote…Rockets scratched James Hilsendager, Kole Lind, Liam Kindree and Roman Basran due to injuries. Kyle Pow sat out his one-game suspension…Kelowna was 1-for-6 on the power play, while Red Deer went 1-for-2… The Rockets are now Rockets are 20-6-0-1 at home this season…When their opponents score first, Kelowna is 9-15-2….The Rockets are 21-10-1-1 when outshooting opponents and have compiled a record of 6-2-2 in games when tied after 40 minutes.
Injury update…Fans and some members of the media in Kelowna continue to stew over a hit from Monday afternoon’s game against the Victoria Royals, where Rockets leading scorer Kole Lind was on the receiving end of a violent open ice collision initiated by defenceman Ralph Jarrett. At issue is whether or not the hit was high on Lind due to Jarratt leaving his feet before making contact. Jarratt was not penalized on the play and Lind is expected to miss about one week with an upper body injury. While it appears that Jarratt will not be suspended by the WHL under supplemental discipline, it was curious that he did not dress for Victoria against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday night.
Post Game Interview: Jason Smith (click here)
Post Game Interview: Cal Foote (click here)
(DUBNetwork thanks Kevin Bain and the Kelowna Rockets for the audio/video)
