Andy Devlin

Rebels take third straight; Alexeyev sent to hospital

In a game where the team picked up two points by finding a way to win, it was the loss of Washington Capitals prospect Alexander Alexeyev that was on the forefront of everyone’s mind following the game.

12 minutes and 14 seconds into the opening frame, Alexeyev made an attempt to play the puck near the Rebels bench. Kamloops Blazer forward Zane Franklin made a play to body check Alexeyev that was very much on the border line of a bad hit. The problem was where Alexeyev was in relation to the boards. Alexeyev’s face landed in the lower part of the boards and he needed to be helped off the ice. It was later revealed that he had been sent to a local hospital.

“No idea yet, he went to the hospital so we haven’t heard. We will see.” Head Coach and GM Brent Sutter told the media following the game.

As of writing, there is no update on his condition. Everyone is hoping for the best, Alexeyev was to leave for the World Junior Championships this weekend.

Following the hit, Franklin was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. It is likely that his hit will be reviewed by the Western Hockey League.

On the ensuing power play, the Rebels took the lead.

With just 43 seconds remaining in the major penalty, Chris Douglas received a pass from Carson Sass and he blasted a one-timer at Vegas Golden Knights prospect Dylan Ferguson. He was able to make the save but the rebound landed on the stick of Rebels captain Reese Johnson. The net was wide open and he collected his 14th goal of the season.

It had taken 18 shots to beat Ferguson.

That would be the Rebels final shot of the period and the teams would head to the dressing room with the Rebels up 1-0.

The second period was marred by penalties. There were five penalties called, four to the Blazers and just one to the Rebels.

The penalty killers for the Blazers stood tall throughout the period, not allowing the Rebels very many scoring chances. When called upon, Dylan Ferguson made the saves he needed to keep his team in the game.

The fourth line consisted of just Arshdeep Bains and Alex Morozoff, as Brent Sutter had elected to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Those two players were paired with one of the three centres all night long, but they were very noticeable throughout the game.

Their persistence paid off in a big way in the later stages of the second period. A high pass through the neutral zone by Ryan Gottfried landed at Morozoff’s feet. This set up a two-on-one when Bains sliced his way through the offensive zone. With the defender focused on Bains, Morozoff was left to go one-on-one with Ferguson. A low glove side shot beat Ferguson to extend the Rebel lead to two.

After 40 minutes the Rebels looked to hold onto the worst lead in hockey.

The Blazers would strike gold just seven minutes and 14 seconds into the final frame.

Blazers assistant captain Brodi Stuart was the recipient of a perfect pass from Kobe Mohr on a two-on-one. A diving Ethan Sakowich could not make it in time to block the pass. Stuart’s one timed shot was unstoppable for Ethan Anders and the Rebel lead was cut to one.

The penalties kept piling up for Kamloops. By the time the game was over they had given Red Deer nine power plays to just three for themselves. The penalty killers for Kamloops were very good all night and did a good job of not allowing Red Deer to create scoring chances.

“Well I thought power plays took momentum away from the game. You go 1-for-9 on it, you know the percentages aren’t great but there were some power plays we just didn’t generate anything on it. When you have that many minutes on the power play it affects other things too as far as when you aren’t generating much on it.” was Sutter’s assessment of the flow of the hockey game.

Dylan Ferguson was outstanding for the Blazers making 41 saves in the loss.

“Their goalie made some big saves for them, he’s a good goalie obviously. They have some good young players, he is certainly the backbone of their team,” added Brent Sutter.

Unfortunately for the Blazers, even with Ferguson pulled for the final minute and 40 seconds, they just could not muster enough to put another puck past Anders. The score on the clock at the end of the games said Rebels two, Blazers one. The win gave Red Deer a three game winning streak and Kamloops has now lost three in a row.

“I thought the boys battled hard for the most part, obviously there’s areas we need to clean up and we weren’t as happy with. But obviously happy to get the win.” chimed in Rebels captain Reese Johnson.

“I think our whole group pretty good at dialing in, especially when we need to, I think the last six minutes we really shut it down and didn’t really give them much which is huge in a game like that.” assessed Johnson of the team’s effort in the game.

Rebel Yell… The three stars were Reese Johnson, Dylan Ferguson and Carson Sass. Brandon Hagel lead all players with nine shots on goal, Brodi Stuart had seven for the Blazers. Reese Johnson was the best faceoff man for the Rebels going 12-for-15 in the dot while Connor Zary lead the was for the Blazers at 10-of-15. Red Deer has one game left before the holiday break, they take on the Tigers at home on Friday. For the Blazers, they will continue their tough slog through the Central Division. They play tomorrow night in Medicine Hat followed by games in Cranbrook and Lethbridge on Friday and Saturday.