1997 – Round 1, Game 4 against the Regina Pats
With a third win under their belts, the Rebels hoped to continue the trend of winning. The team headed into the fourth game looking to sweep the Pats out of the first round of the playoffs.
It was not meant to be as penalties piled up and led the team to their ultimate demise, 5-1 in Regina. Red Deer took 86 minutes worth of penalties to Regina’s 66. In the end, Regina had 13 power plays to Red Deer’s seven.
Regina made Red Deer pay scoring four times on those 13 chances and added a late five-on-five goal. The bright spot from Red Deer came early when Greg Schmidt scored his third goal of the series. Marc Magliarditi allowed five goals on 30 shots. Tyler Sloan allowed just one goal on 34 shots for the Pats.
1999 – Round 1, opening game against the Brandon Wheat Kings
Red Deer finished the regular season as the second seed in the Central Division with 73 points. Brandon also finished second in their division but had 82 points.
The Rebels threw everything they had at the Wheat Kings and it worked as the team took the opening game by a score of 5-2. Brandon got on the scoreboard first less than eight minutes into the game. Red Deer then got goals from Shawn McNeil and Brad Rohrig to make it 2-1 as the teams headed to their dressing rooms after 20 minutes.
The teams traded goals in the middle frame, Brandon made it a one-goal game only to have Red Deer respond a little over a minute later on a Kevin Marsh goal.
Late in the third period, Red Deer extended their lead with goals by Brad Leeb and Lukas Bednarik. Dustin Schwartz made 29 saves in the win as the Rebels upset the Wheat Kings to take a 1-0 series lead.
2000 – Winding down the season against Calgary
The Hitmen were in the midst of a fantastic season where they had 120 points, 18 more than the next closest team. Red Deer was solidified in their playoff position.
Red Deer was able to upset their division rival in this game by a 4-2 score. Four different Rebels had goals and Justin Mapletoft had two assists. Red Deer was able to hold off the WHL’s leading scorer in Brad Moran, he did not register a point in the contest.
Red Deer’s goals came from Ross Lupaschuk (21), Kyle Wanvig (23), Jim Vandermeer (8), and Andrew Bergen (8). Shane Bendera made 27 saves in the win.
2001 – Round 1, Game 2 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Having taken a 1-0 series lead the night before, the Red Deer Rebels were looking to head to Lethbridge with both home ice games in the bag.
Andrew Bergen’s four-point night and a 21 save shutout for Shane Bendera lifted the Rebels to a 5-0 victory.
Jeff Smith opened the scoring for Red Deer in the first period and that was how the teams headed to the dressing rooms. The second period saw Red Deer score twice, off the sticks of Doug Lynch and Bergen.
Bergen scored his second goal of the night just over three minutes into the final period, this one coming on the power play. Boyd Gordon sealed the game with a short-handed marker with a little more than 11 minutes to play in regulation.
The win gave the Rebels a 2-0 series lead, with the teams having a few days rest before Game 3 in Lethbridge.
2007 – Round 1, Game 2 against the Medicine Hat Tigers
No one expected the Rebels to take the opening game of the series in Medicine Hat, and since they did, it was expected that the Tigers were going to come out at full force to appease the 4006 fans at the old Medicine Hat Arena.
And come out they did, with three first period goals. Tyler Ennis scored twice, including the game’s opening goal, the eventual game-winner.
Red Deer couldn’t muster any offense, only taking three shots on the Medicine Hat net in the second period. Despite the lack of offense, the Rebels didn’t allow the Tigers to score in the middle frame.
Medicine Hat added two more goals in the third to walk away with a 5-0 win and a series split at home.
Matt Keeley made 20 saves in the shutout.
2010 – Round 1, Game 3 against the Saskatoon Blades
The Rebels had been shut out in both games in Saskatoon as the Blades won both games at home. Solving Stephen Stanford was proving difficult for the Red and Black.
Red Deer would finally solve Stanford but it came after Saskatoon scored the game-opening goal. A little less than two minutes later Willie Cotezee broke the shutout string at 10:52 of the second period.
Unfortunately for Red Deer, one goal wasn’t going to be enough. The Rebels and Blades traded chances in the third period and overtime. After just five minutes and change of extra time, Marek Viedensky scored the game-winning goal for the Blades to give them a 3-0 series lead.
Kraymer Barnstable made 39 saves in the loss. Stanford had 37 saves.
2018 – Round 1, Game 2 against the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Already trailing the Hurricanes 1-0 in the series, the Rebels knew they were in tough against a powerful offense like the Hurricanes had.
Game 2 highlighted that offense in a huge way as the Hurricanes won 8-3 over the Rebels to take a 2-0 series lead.
Dylan Cozens had a hat trick to pace the Hurricanes in goals while Brad Morrison had two goals and four assists.
Brandon Hagel scored twice for Red Deer and Josh Tarzwell added a single. Ethan Anders allowed three goals on nine shots before being pulled for Riley Lamb. He allowed five goals on 29 shots to finish up the game.
