“Ladies and gentlemen, Merry Christmas,” said Rebels general manager and head coach Brent Sutter who was in a festive mood following the Red Deer Rebels’ 3-1 victory over the Swift Current Broncos.
On a night when the 4,013 fans in attendance were in a giving mood — it was Teddy Toque Toss night — the team was also giving of their fifth win in seven games.
“It’s awesome, having that momentum and just being able to play good games over the last 10. I thought our team has been playing really well defensively,” said the first star of the night, Cameron Hausinger.
Heading into the night’s action, both teams had won a game in the season series. This game was the first between the two at the Westerner Park Centrium.
The Broncos’ last win was against the Rebels back on November 27th. Their losing streak was extended to nine games with the loss.
With Ethan Anders out with an injury that has been listed as day-to-day, Byron Fancy made his eighth straight start for the home side.
It didn’t take long for the Rebels to get the fans into the game with the exciting Teddy Toss goal. Just 1:51 seconds into the game, the fur flew when Zak Smith scored from a tough angle on Isaac Poulter. His first goal in 18 games gave the home side an early lead.
Toques and Teddys only took a few moments to clean up and the action was back underway.
The rest of the period was slowed to a crawl though, as both teams were thinking about the upcoming holiday break. The Broncos are also a frustrating team to play against as they plug up lanes very well and force shots to the outside.
“It’s a game where you just had to stay with it, not break. Tight checking, there wasn’t a lot of room,” said Sutter.
Early in the second period, the Broncos looked to get on the board. With pressure in the Rebels end, a hard Tyler Smithies shot clanged off the post and bounced around the crease area. Fancy was quick to cover the puck but there seemed to be some who thought the puck was in the net. The on-ice call was no goal but the video goal judge called down to the booth. After another few moments, the ref signaled goal and the boos rained down from the crowd.
Upon further review, the puck had crossed the line and it was Fancy’s quick action in covering the puck and moving it out of the net area that had fooled the on-ice officials. That goal came on the power play.
Neither team looked very good in the rest of the second period as the slow-motion slugfest continued. The teams were tied after 40 minutes.
In the blink of an eye, the game changed course.
Early in the third period, the Rebels had a tic-tac-toe play in the Broncos end. Hausinger was the recipient of a Jayden Grubbe pass from behind the net. With Hausinger wide open, he only needed to beat Poulter, and his eighth of the season gave the home side back their one-goal lead.
“Barts (Dawson Barteaux) held the line pretty good there and Tarzwell put it through my legs and put it down low to Grubbe and he made a real nice pass, right on the money,” Hausinger said.
“All I had to do was tap it in. I was lucky I put that one home. I don’t get too many of those.”
Red Deer continued to press for the insurance marker, but the Broncos just would not go away. They stuck around by keeping Red Deer to the perimeter of the ice and forced them to take shots from the blue line.
Finally, with 3:07 to play, the Rebels got themselves some distance when Josh Tarzwell scored his 14th goal of the season. Following a drop pass he made to Ethan Sakowich, Tarzwell pounced on the rebound created by Sakowich’s hard shot. Poulter had no chance to make the save as he committed to the original shot and left a wide-open net for Tarzwell’s shot.
“It was a game that you just had to keep your mistakes to a minimum, and I thought we did a really good job in the third period. We talked about just staying with it and trying to break the opposition, get a quality scoring chance or two and capitalize, and we were able to do that,” said Sutter.
That’s how the game ended, with the Rebels creating some distance between themselves and the Broncos in the standings.
Rebel Yell… The three stars in the building were 1) Cameron Hausinger 2) Josh Tarzwell 3) Byron Fancy… Poulter made 29 saves in the loss; Fancy had 19 in the win. Smithies had 7 of his team’s 20 shots; Brett Davis and Ethan Sakowich had 5 each for the Rebels. The Broncos scored the only special teams goal of the night, as the team went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. The Rebels were 0-for-4. Brett Davis was 13-of-18 in the faceoff circle. Both teams are now off for the holiday break. Red Deer returns on December 27th to host the Edmonton Oil Kings, while Swift Current hosts the Medicine Hat Tigers the same night.
