(Photo: Rob Wallator)

By Kael Clark

Bit of Deja Vu

Rebels hold off late Wheat Kings surge in 4-3 thriller

Nov 17, 2019 | 9:24 AM

This time they got it done.

One night after seeing a two-goal lead slip away in a shootout loss to Medicine Hat, the Red Deer Rebels held on Saturday night for a 4-3 win over the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Westerner Park Centrium.

“Well it was kind of similar to last game, only this time we headed into the third with a bigger lead,” said Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter. “We actually played really well, but again we took penalties and that took the momentum away from us.”

Red Deer had an explosive start to Saturday night’s game, setting the tone early with a gorgeous tip in from Arshdeep Bains for a 1-0 lead 1:26 into the game.

The Rebels were the first powerplay of the game and took advantage as a hard wrist shot from captain Dawson Barteaux made its way through traffic, past Brandon goalie Jiri Patera and just over the goal line for a 2-0 lead.

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The young guns kept things rolling for Red Deer. A lucky bounce from a faceoff in the attacking zone led to Ethan Rowland, left all alone in front of the net, slipping home a backhand shot for a Rebels a 3-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Red Deer picked up where they left off in the second period. Jayden Grubbe’s attempted wrap around ended up in the slot on Josh Tarzwell’s stick where he ripped the puck home for a comfortable 4-0 lead over the Wheat Kings.

Three times would be the lucky charm for Brandon on the powerplay. Ben McCartney picked up the loose puck right in front of the Rebels net a buried it to get the Wheat Kings on the board. Rebels lead 4-1 after two periods of play.

At the start of the third period, things looked all too familiar to Red Deer from the night before as Brandon came out hungry. The Wheat Kings went on their fifth powerplay where Cole Reinhardt brought the puck in front of the net, made a move on Rebels goalie Byron Fancy and put it home to cut Red Deer’s lead to two.

With the goalie was pulled late in the third, Cole Reinhardt chipped the puck up the middle of the ice, split the defence and snuck the puck through the five hole of a poke-checking Fancy to make it 4-3 with just over a minute left to play.

Hearts were racing in the Westerner Park Centrium, but with big saves including one at the buzzer, the Rebels held on for the 4-3 win.

Fancy had a great game in net, stopping 37 out of 40 shots he faced.

“He made the big saves down the stretch when we needed it. Especially in the last minute and thirty six seconds, he played big.” Sutter acknowledged.

Patera made some big saves in the third period for Brandon, including a sprawling save on Bains to keep it a two-goal game and give his a chance for a comeback. Patera stopped 21 out of 25 shots on the night.

Red Deer went 1-for-4 on the powerplay and the Wheat Kings went 2-for-5.

Red Deer will get ready to welcome a tough Prince Albert Raiders team on Wednesday to the Centrium at 7 p.m. You can listen to the action live on 106.7 The Drive with the pre-game show starting at 6:30.