It is not too often you can call a 17-year-old a hero. It is probably less likely when he plays hockey on a team with players two and three years older than him.
But tonight, Alex Morozoff was your hero. His goal at 1:21 of the extra frame gave the Red Deer Rebels another victory, their ninth of the season. It was also the second time they defeated the highly rated Saskatoon Blades out of their three contests in the 2018-19 season.
Alexander Alexeyev corralled the puck at his own blue line and hit the streaking Morozoff at the Blades blue line with a pass. He got to about the faceoff dot and ripped a snap shot that found it’s way past draft eligible Nolan Maier. It was the fourth puck to get past Maier on 48 Red Deer shots. Maier was eventually named the game’s second star for his 44 save performance. “Alexeyev gave me a nice pass and I just saw some open ice and I just took the shot and it went in” said Morozoff following the game.
“I thought we played really well.” added Head Coach Brent Sutter
“Overall it was as solid of a game as we’ve had all year.” continued Sutter post-game.
The game didn’t start out so rosy as the Max Gerlach scored his fourth goal, this season, against the Rebels just three minutes and 55 seconds into this game. A centering feed from Brandon Schuldhaus just needed to be redirected by Gerlach in front and the Blades were up 1-0. Majid Kaddoura earned his first WHL point on the goal.
It would not take long for the Rebels leading scorer to hit the score sheet himself. Brandon Hagel collected his fifth point against the Blades this season, scoring his 11th goal. Alexander Alexeyev’s shot provided a loose puck to Jeff de Wit, who touched it to Reese Johnson who then fed Hagel in the slot and the game was tied at one. That’s how the first period would end.
The second period was all Red Deer. They would turn on the jets and pound the puck on Nolan Maier. He did as well as he could to stem the tide but once again Brandon Hagel would hit pay dirt.
A long lead feed from Alexander Alexeyev behind his own goal line, to Hagel skating to the Blades blue line, would catch Hagel in the gut and drop to his feet. He was able to collect the puck and skate in untouched on Maier. His shot would beat Maier high blocker side and the Rebels had their first lead of the game. It was Hagel’s sixth point in three games against the Blades.
They would extend the lead just beyond 11 minutes into the seconds period. Reese Johnson would grab himself an assist, passing the puck to a wide open de Wit in the slot. All de Wit had to do was put a little deke on Maier and the Rebels would take a two goal lead. They out shot the Blades 18-9 in the middle frame.
The momentum was beginning to turn towards the Blades after the third period radio time out. With eight minutes left on the clock, Kirby Dach would slide a pass to Brandon Schuldhaus and his hard wrist shot beat a screened Ethan Anders. The Blades were within one goal and were looking for more.
The Rebels’ River Fahey would take a penalty which would lead to a goal by the Blades to tie things up.
For almost an entire minute after the Fahey minor penalty, the Rebels were pinned in their own end by the Blades. Unable to make a change the Rebels defenders were looking exhausted. This allowed the Blades to set up nearly power play style with fresher legs out on the ice.
With only 2:05 to go in the period, Kirby Dach’s slap style shot at the net would beat Anders over his shoulder. The life in the arena felt like it had been sucked right out.
Thankfully for the home fans, Morozoff was your overtime hero.
I thought we were really really good tonight, I think we responded well. It was a little bit of a wake up call in Medicine Hat, so I think we came back here and we knew what we had to do and I think we did the job.” assistant captain Brandon Hagel added after the game.
Morozoff was sure to complement his team’s game despite allowing the Blades back in it late.”I thought it was good and we were competing for 65 minutes.”
“They got some momentum near the end of the game. We made a bad line change and created an odd man rush for them, then they were only down one.” said Sutter when asked about how the game was headed in the third period.
Rebel Yell… Oleg Zaytsev was a scratch from the lineup, following the game Brent Sutter said he was day-to-day, no further information was given. Reese Johnson was 13-of-17 in the face off dot, Gary Haden was the best Blade at 8-of-11. Johnson also led all players with 8 shots. Dawson Davidson was the top Blade with 6 shots. Brandon Hagel has points in 5 straight games (8G-2A). Alexander Alexeyev also has a 5 game point streak (3G-4A), he has only been held off the scoresheet twice this season. Red Deer’s next action is on Sunday as they travel to Cranbrook to take on the Kootenay ICE. Saskatoon travels to Edmonton to take on the Oil Kings tomorrow night.
