Brandon Hagel was named September and October player of the month before the puck dropped on the first period of the only match up of the season between the Rebels and the Rockets.
And it didn’t take long for the Rebels to score. Their first of the night of the short handed variety. It was their fifth short handed goal of the season and Brandon Hagel’s 14th goal overall. His unassisted goal started when he blocked a pass between the Rocket’s defensemen. He pushed the puck further ahead of the two defenders and chased it down to give himself a breakaway. He had no problem beating Rocket’s starting goalie James Porter to give the Rebels an early lead.
Red Deer extended their lead before the end of the period.
Just seconds after coincidental penalties, Dallon Melin was the recipient of a quick change by Sass coming out of the box and got himself in front of Porter. Chris Douglas created an opportunity for the puck to head Melin’s way with a no look pass and he made no mistake potting his first Western Hockey League goal. His tally made it 2-0 Rebels with under five minutes to play in the first period.
“It was an unbelievable pass, I think a pylon could have scored that goal. It felt good to get it but I didn’t do much,” Melin added after the game about his first ever WHL goal.
Speed was certainly a factor in the Rebels early lead, the team was making plays at a lightening pace. All four lines were looking to continue the pace in the second period.
Halfway through the second period Chris Douglas added to the Rebels lead with his fifth goal of the season. Oleg Zaytsev drew Porter out of his net and took a shot that bounced behind the netminder. The puck would flutter in behind the goalie who was well out of his net, and the uncovered Douglas just needed to bat the puck out of the air at waist level. He connected and the puck hit the ice behind the blue paint. 3-0 Rebels less than halfway into the middle stanza.
The Rebels second shorthanded goal of the night came on a nifty play by Brandon Hagel and Reese Johnson. Hagel collected the puck behind the Rebels net and skated up ice. Johnson would join him and they would skate two-on-two towards the Kelowna net. Hagel took the puck all the way around the Rocket’s net and the two Rocket players chased him. That left Johnson open all alone in front of the net and Hagel’s pass was perfectly placed. Johnson wristed the puck over the outstretched glove of Porter and that was the end of his night. He would be replaced by Roman Basran. The Rebels had four goals on just 18 shots.
“Those two (short handed) goals were huge, first goal of the game and the fourth goal, you get those and you are able to get some momentum out of that, and the important thing is is that they were early in pk’s and we had to do the job killing them off and that is probably just as important.” Head Coach Brent Sutter when asked about those two short handed markers.
The Rebels were 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-2 with 2 shorthanded goals on the penalty kill on the night.
With time still left on a late penalty to the Rockets Lane Zablocki, Red Deer needed just 49 seconds to score their fifth goal of the night. This time it was Jeff de Wit as he collected a rebound in front of Basran after a shot from Reese Johnson. Hagel collected his third point of the night on the goal.
After the fifth goal, the Rockets began to get themselves into penalty trouble. Brent Sutter started sending out his third liners and second power play unit to get them some experience with the man advantage and it paid off.
Alex Morozoff received a pass from Josh Tarzwell right in front of Basran. He just hammered it into the open cage, there was nothing the Rockets could do about it. It gave the Rebels a six goal lead.
With a little over five minutes to go in the game Carson Sass threw the puck towards the net and it fooled Basran. The Rebels lead was extended to seven goals.
Melin was happy with his team’s performance, “We played a full 60 tonight, everyone was jumped in, it was good”
Head Coach Brent Sutter was also pleased following tonight’s tilt, “Very solid, I thought right from our first shift on we played the way we wanted to play as far as being persistent on pucks, hard on pucks.”
Rebel Yell….
Don't have to go that far back, really. 1st game of the 2016-2017 season dropping a 9-2 decision to Kamloops. Started the season 1-4-0-0 and ended the year 45-22-5-0.
— Geoffrey Brandow (@GeoffreyBrandow) November 17, 2018
Rookie Kyle Crosbie was the leading faceoff winner for the Rockets going 8-of-11. Resse Johnson lead the way for the Rebels, he was 12-of-19. Next up for the Red Deer Rebels is the Kootenay Ice on Saturday night. The Kelowna Rockets continue their road trip in Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings. The three stars on the night were swept by the Rebels, 1st star Brandon Hagel 2nd star Chris Douglas and 3rd star Ethan Anders.
