This was the first of three remaining games between the Red Deer Rebels (3rd place, central) and the Kootenay Ice (4th, central). The game was important to both teams as they are in the stretch drive to the playoffs.
Red Deer entered the contest six points in front of the Ice for a coveted spot in the opening round of the playoffs.
From the start it was clear Kootenay had this game circled on their calendar. For the Rebels, on the ice, it looked like just another game.
An early two-on-one between Brandon Hagel and Mason McCarty led to the most open net a player could have. Hagel whiffed on his shot and sent the puck over the yawning cage. It would set the tone on mistakes for the evening.
Penalties were another theme of this game early, as the Rebels took a minor for hooking followed by two penalties to the Ice. The second penalty would give Red deer a two-man advantage for 37 seconds.
Two seconds after first penalty expired, Hagel and Krsitian Reichel would create a goal mouth scramble. Alex Morozoff would find the puck in the crease area and score his sixth goal of the season to give the Rebels their first lead of the game.
Immediately after the Rebels goal, the Kootenay Ice turned on the pressure and WHL Goalie of the Month Riley Lamb made a five alarm save to keep the lead for the white third jersey clad Rebels.
Following the huge save it was all Kootenay as the Ice applied consistent pressure and sent players to the front of the net to screen Lamb. He would see a lot of Ice player’s behinds in front of him all night long.
An open ice giveaway in the defensive zone would see the Rebels lead evaporate quickly. Ice captain Colton Kroeker stole the puck, miss on his first shot. The miss had Lamb down and Kroeker feathered a shot over the goal line. It was Kroeker’s 13th goal of the year, unassisted.
A goal by Brandon Hagel at the tail-end of a penalty kill was called off, the puck went in under the net when Matt Berlin lifted it up while moving to his post.
Early in the second period a loose puck in the Ice end found the stick of Hagel. He fired a pass to McCarty, who was open in the slot, and McCarty fired the puck over the blocker of Berlin to give the Rebels back the lead. McCarty’s 35 goals are more than any Rebels player had last season.
A mistake at the Ice blue-line put the puck on Grayson Pawlenchuk’s stick. He sent Reese Johnson in on Berlin with two Ice defenders in close proximity to him. Johnson’s hard wrist shot beats McGovern and put the Rebels in front by two with a little less than six minutes to go in the second period. The goal was the Saskatoon, SK product’s 21st of the season.
Two minutes and seven seconds later the Ice come back to score. A beautiful cross-ice pass from Kaeden Taphorn to Micheal King starts it off. King has room to shoot and he beats Lamb cleanly to draw the Ice back to within a goal. It is King’s eighth goal of the year
“We never really played all that well here tonight. I thought the first two periods we had a lot of turnovers, we were second on pucks. We were not great in our own zone.” Brent Sutter said of his team’s effort in the contest.
There was just one second period penalty, this one would be split between the end of the second period and the start of the third.
Red Deer did not have much going to start the third period, they would go on to manage just two shots in the final 20 minutes of action.
It would turn into a wild final five minutes though.
With the Rebels up 3-2 the Ice would pour it on in an attempt to steal two points and close the gap with the Rebels. At the 15:29 mark in the third period the Ice tied the game at three.
A pass from the side boards from Jonathan Smart found it’s way into the slot. Lamb was caught out of position as Veloso only needed to tap it past the netminder for the tying goal. It was Veloso’s 24th goal of the season.
Not much more than a minute later Chris Douglas took his turn to score from the slot. A pass from Brandon Hagel found him with room to spare. The Rebels would retake the lead with their fourth goal on just their 14th shot.
With 1:09 to play Ethan Sakowich blasted a puck off the end boards that headed towards the empty Ice net. His shot would miss by about a foot. The Ice would then take a timeout to draw up a play.
The timeout worked as with 58 seconds left the Ice would tie the game again. With three Ice players in front of the net a point shot from Davis would find the back of the net. Hausinger and Krebs would pick up the assists. The game would head to extra time.
Nothing would be settled in the five minutes of free time.
A skills competition was needed to decide a winner, Mason McCarty’s goal was all the Rebels would need as Lamb made three saves to take it.
“We were fortunate enough to get the win, fortunate enough to get two points. We obviously will take it. It wasn’t one of our better games we
had here in the last month.” said Sutter after the game.
Brandon Hagel’s description was not much rosier, “I didn’t think we were our best out there tonight but two points is two points right now and we got it. Can’t be upset about it.”
“It was a must win for them, they came out hard and obviously we didn’t respond the right way in the first two periods. I thought we battled a little better in the third. Like I said it’s a win.” said Hagel when asked about Kootenay’s game tonight.
WHL Goalie of the Month and Red Deer Rebel of the Month of February, Riley Lamb was credited with his ninth straight win. He made 27 saves as well as three more in the shoot out.
Rebel Yell… The three stars on the night were 1) Colteo Kroeker (1g) 2) Peyton Krebs (2a) 3) Brandon Hagel (2a). Alec Bear led all players with 5 shots on net, Kristian Reichel led Red Deer with 4. Chris Douglas was 9-for-9 in the faceoff dot, Colton Kroeker was the best Ice player, he was 8-for-15. Just 5 penalties called in this game. Red Deer was 1-for-3 with the man advantage while Kootenay was 0-for-2. Red Deer will continue it’s 3-in-3 weekend with a game against the Medicine Hat Tigers from the Canalta Centre in Medicine Hat. Kootenay’s next action will come Sunday as they host the Tigers in Cranbrook.
