(Dan Hermanutz)

By Dan Hermanutz

upset to finish season

Wranglers beat Rustlers to close 2019-20 NCHL regular season

Jan 20, 2020 | 9:50 AM

The Red Deer Rustlers took to the ice Sunday night against the Blackfalds Wranglers in what was the end of each team’s regular season.

The two teams came in on opposite sides of the standings with Red Deer sitting third and Blackfalds in seventh. The outcome of the game would decide if the Rustlers face the Devon Barons or the Lacombe Generals in the first round of the NCHL playoffs.

Blackfalds ultimately came away with the upset 6-4 win.

“It’s tough to win any games when you don’t play in the first two periods,” admitted Rustlers Captain Mike Dempster. “We were undisciplined, took too many penalties. When we came to play in the third period, they didn’t have a chance.”

Blackfalds jumped out to an early lead in the first period scoring two goals, the first off a Dean Dion slapper on the powerplay, which was the only goal the home team scored on six man advantage opportunities. Ryan Chambers scored the second.

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The Rustlers answered in the middle frame with a Dylan Houston goal just 1:35 in. That spark was quickly snuffed by the Wranglers, however, who scored twice more in under two minutes, opening up a 4-1 lead. Blackfalds’ Michael McAdam scored another for the Wranglers with 18 seconds left in the period to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes.

In the third, the Rustlers got another early one, this time shorthanded from Tucker Scantlebury to make it 5-2 with 15:08 on the clock.

On a delayed call, Blackfalds regained their four-goal advantage, McAdam scoring his second of the night at the 13:03 mark of the period.

Red Deer didn’t go quietly, as Scantlebury and Brody Kalinowski both scored powerplay markers late, but it was not not enough as the Wranglers topped the Rustlers 6-4.

Dempster added that with playoffs on the horizon, if the Rustlers attack five-on-five with all four lines, they will be just fine.

“The league is so close with that middle pack, it really doesn’t matter if it’s Devon or Lacombe because they’re both good teams and they work hard. We just have to be prepared to play,” he said. “We should have home ice in the first round, so we’ll come prepared to play game one and go from there.”

The first round of the NCHL playoffs are now set, though schedules are yet to be released.

Red Deer (10-6-0-0) will have home ice against the Devon Barons (8-7-0-1), while Lacombe (7-8-0-1) will start on the road versus the Daysland Northstars (11-5-0-0), and Blackfalds (6-9-0-1) will travel to face the Fort Saskatchewan Chiefs (11-4-0-1).

rdnewsNOW will publish the full opening round schedules when they become available.