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Rebels lose to Portland in pre-season play

Sep 9, 2017 | 6:44 PM

Tough day for the Rebels in Kennewick, Washington Saturday. Red Deer lost 6-2 to the Portland Winterhawks in WHL exhibition play. The loss drops the Rebels pre-season record to 3-1.

The Hawks opened the scoring just 36 seconds into the game with a goal from Bronson Sharp. Portland then went up 2-0 when Ty Kolle scored at 16:17 of the opening frame, giving the “visitors” a two goal lead heading into the first intermission.

In the second, Matthew Quigley scored what turned out to be the eventual game-winner for Portland at the 2:55 mark, giving the Winterhawks a 3-0 lead. The Rebels got on the board a little later though at 9:33 when Akash Bains popped one in behind Winterhawks goalie Shane Farkas. However, Henri Jokiharju gave Portland a little insurance on their lead when he scored with less than four minutes to play in the second and gave the Hawks a 4-1 spread heading into the third.

Jake Gricius would add to Portland’s lead when he scored at the 6:15 mark of the third period to give them a 5-1 advantage. Colton Veloso then made it 6-1 Hawks when he got one past Rebel’s net minder Ethan Anders on the power play. Red Deer responded though and would close out the scoring when Chris Douglas scored a power play goal of his own with just 1:39 left on the clock.