Coming into the playoff series between the Red Deer Rebels and the Prince Albert Raiders, the pundits, including yours truly, pegged the Raiders as heavy favourites. In every sense of the word, they proved everyone right. They beat the Rebels in Game 1 with excellent goaltending by Ian Scott. Game 2 saw the Raiders outscore the Rebels 6-4 and Game 3 saw the Raiders plainly outwork the Rebels.
Tonight’s game saw them out skill the Rebels, while falling behind for the first time in the series.
“It’s obviously a very good team we were playing and I would have certainly liked a better match-up in the first round if we could have been a better hockey team from Christmas on but that wasn’t the case. I thought we played one game in this series and that was Game 2 in P.A., where we played a good 60 minutes.” said GM/ head coach Brent Sutter following the game.
The Rebels came out of the gate on fire, keeping pace with the Raiders offensive attack. The passing was crisper, the skating was faster and the forecheck was into the Raiders zone harder. Their hard work took them to new heights, giving them their first lead in the series.
Jeff de Wit‘s goal came at a crucial point in the game, with just 10 seconds remaining on the clock. Brandon Hagel got the puck to the front of the net and it made it’s way over to the open de Wit. It was his first of the series.
Despite being out shot by one, it was the Rebels who headed to the locker room with the one goal lead.
Prince Albert upped the pressure in the second frame, they got the pucks to Anders and they got in the faces of the Rebels players and started putting the squeeze on them.
In one such instance it led to a scrum in the Rebels end of the ice. On the ensuing faceoff, the ref allowed the Raiders to make a change but did not give the Rebels an opportunity to get the match up they wanted. It lead to a faceoff win in the Rebels zone for the Raiders. The puck was passed to Ozzy Wiesblatt and he tied things up.
What I was upset about is there’s a reason you have home-ice advantage. It’s all about match-ups, not so much about your forward groups and more about being matched up against their defence group,” he said.
“They changed their two (defensmen) and he (referee Brett Iverson) had his hand up in the air, meaning they can’t change after that and we’re allowed to have a line change. Their two other (defensemen) slipped out when Hages’ (Hagel) line came on and then he wouldn’t let us make another line change. It was a bad mistake on his part and an experienced ref can’t make mistakes like that any time, let alone in playoffs. And the puck ends up in the back of your net.” Sutter explaining the delay before the goal.
“It’s playoff hockey and it cost us a goal. We didn’t have the right match-up and it could have been different.”
The pressure kept coming from the Raiders forecheckers but Ethan Anders stood tall to keep the game tied at one as 40 minutes expired in the all important fourth game of the series.
Prince Albert proved in the third period why they were not only the favourites but the #2 ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League.
Just 58 seconds into period three, the Raiders worked the puck deep into Rebels territory. Sean McDonald banked a puck off Anders and Leason dug the puck away from Anders. He had two thirds of the net to shoot at and he made no mistake, the Raiders took the lead for the first time in the game.
20-year-old Chicago Blackhawks signee, Brandon Hagel, took a goaltender interference penalty as he drove to the net. He was tackled pretty hard by the Raiders defenseman and dragged around the ice for a moment before the linesmen broke it up. Hagel received the only penalty on the play.
With 27 seconds left in the penalty to Leason’s second goal of the game came on a backhand that he absolutely roofed in behind Anders to give the Raiders a two-goal lead. There would be no looking back for the Raiders after that goal.
“We needed him, he is a guy who’s well rested after the… suspension so we needed him to come back, it took him a little bit to get going but once he got going that goal early in the third really made a difference for us. Then that power play goal kinda sealed it,” said Marc Habshied about Brett Leason’s return from his one-game suspension
As was the case throughout the season, a giveaway, this time in front of an empty net, salted away the game for the Rebels. This time it was lights out on the season. Cole Fonstad collected the loose puck inches from the yawning cage and his first of the playoffs was the dagger that ended the Rebels hopes of a comeback. The 3908 fans in attendance were left in a state of shock as they watched the Rebels season end before their eyes.
“Last night we weren’t very good at all and tonight, for two periods, we were there,” said Sutter. “The third period, three goals against you, and that kind of summed up what we were as a team from Christmas on with the type of mistakes we made.”
At the buzzer it was handshakes and hugs for the home side. The teams went through the traditional final handshake and with that the season ended for the Red Deer Rebels.
The WHL career has come to an end for Reese Johnson, Brandon Hagel and Jeff de Wit, who were all visibly upset at the thought of the contest being their last one in Rebels Burgundy, Black and White.
Rebel Yell… The three stars were the Red Deer Rebels 20-year-old players. They were sent off to raucous applause from the Red Deer faithful. Hagel had 6 shots in the loss, while Sean Montgomery pitched in 5 for the Raiders. Following the Raiders win, the Saskatoon Blades also swept their series with Moose Jaw and those two teams will meet in the East Division Final.
