By Dan Hermanutz

another setback

Rebels fall 4-1 in Vancouver as B.C. road trip continues

Feb 13, 2020 | 9:11 AM

After falling Tuesday night to the Victoria Royals, the Red Deer Rebels hopped on the ferry and made their way back to the B.C. mainland where they hope to redeem themselves versus the Vancouver Giants.

It didn’t turn happen, however, as the Rebels dropped a 4-1 decision to the Giants.

Ten minutes into the first period, Christopher Sedoff took a holding call for the first man advantage in the game in favour of Vancouver. Rebels goaltender Byron Fancy made several stops before the puck popped out of the zone and Josh Tarswell was home free on a shorthanded breakaway. He made a nice move but was stopped by Trent Miner in net for Vancouver.

Red Deer got their own powerplay opportunity in the opening frame but were not able to capitalize as the first period would end goalless and with the Rebels being outshot by the Giants 13-6.

In the second period after a scum started in front of the Vancouver net, all ten players gathered and began pushing and shoving. Red Deer walked away with the only penalty of the event with Joel Sexsmith was handed two minutes for cross-checking. Fancy again made a few great saves again and the Rebels earned yet another shorthand breakaway, but this time Chris Douglas was unable to finish.

"overreach"

Red Deer and Red Deer County mayors perplexed over rationale of proposed Bill 20

3h ago

Phase 2 upgrades at Dickson Dam to begin this year

5h ago

charges pending

Red Deer RCMP arrest two individuals following ramming of police vehicle

22h ago

A fight broke late in the period at centre ice between Jaxsen Wiebe of the Rebels and Tanner Brown of the Giants. It went back and forth before Wiebe landed two huge rights that put Brown to the ice before he popped back up and the linesmen stepped in.

The Rebels opened the scoring 5:28 into the third period on their third powerplay of the game as captain Ethan Sakowich snuck a shot past Miner for his tenth of the year.

It didn’t take long for the Giants to answer, however, only 1:32 later on a powerplay opportunity of their own. Jayden Grubbe was called for tripping giving Vancouver their fifth opportunity of the night. Eric Florchuk passed the puck to Colorado draft pick Bowen Byram, who found Vancouver’s leading scorer Tristen Nielsen for his 25^th of the year.

With just over seven minutes remaining in the game, the Giants grabbed their first lead of the game. Holden Katzalay threw the puck onto the net and it somehow ended up right in the slot and on the stick of Michal Kvasnica, who hammered it past Fancy for his seventh goal of the year.

The Giants added to the lead 1:39 later on a three-on-one opportunity. Justin Sourdif broke the puck out of the Giants zone with only one Rebel defender ahead of him, he passed it to Nielsen whp found Byram this time, ripping the shot past Fancy to make it a two-goal lead and his sixth of the year.

Sourdif added an empty netter to make it a 4-1 final for Vancouver, who earned their seventh win in a row.

Vancouver outshot Red Deer 43-24 on the night and was 1-for-5 on the powerplay while the Rebels were 1-for-3.

The game was a milestone for Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter as it was his 1000^th game as the team’s head coach.

The Rebels play Friday night in Kamloops to play the hot Blazers. Puck drops at 8, listen live on 106.7 the Drive.