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Rebels end long road trip with loss in Cranbrook

Nov 17, 2017 | 9:44 PM

The Red Deer Rebels wrapped up their seven-game November road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Kootenay Ice in Cranbrook Friday night. It was a tough stretch away from home for Red Deer, losing six of those seven games with the only win coming last Tuesday night when they beat the Royals 5-3 in Victoria.

None the less, on this night, it was Red Deer who opened the scoring when Reese Johnson picked up his seventh goal of the season at 9:05 to make it 1-0 for the visitors. Sam Pouliot added to the Rebels lead when he scored his first of the year just 34 seconds later to make it 2-0 Red Deer. A Reese Johnson tripping penalty however, would lead to Kootenay getting on the board. Colton Veloso scored on the power play at 14:55, his sixth of the season, to cut the Rebels lead to 2-1.

The Ice then got off to a quick start in the second period when Brett Davis scored his seventh of the year at the 1:10 mark and tied the game at 2-2. A little over five minutes later, Red Deer’s Kristian Reichel responded with his 10th goal of the season to put the Rebels in the lead again 3-2.

In the third period, the Ice’s Keenan Taphorn pulled the teams even again at 3-3, when he scored his second of the year just 1:18 into the final frame. The eventual game-winner came with just 3:29 left to play, shortly after the Rebels Brandon Schuldhaus was called for holding. It led to Kootenay’s Ryan Pouliot scoring on the power play, his second of the year, to make it a 4-3 final.

Shots on goal were 41-35 in favour of Red Deer, with Kootenay 2 for 6 on the power play and the Rebels 0 for 1.

With the win, Kootenay improves to 9-12-1 with 19 points and second place in the WHL’s Central Division. Red Deer drops to 9-13-1 with 19 points and third place in the Central.

The two teams don’t have to wait long to face each other again though, as they play on Saturday, November 18, 7:00 p.m. at the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer.

You can catch all the action live on 106.7 The Drive, starting with the pre-game show at 6:30 p.m.