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Rustlers punch ticket to league final, Sr. AA provincials

Mar 3, 2020 | 8:00 PM

The Red Deer Rustlers are off to the NCHL Vanberg Cup finals after beating the Morinville Kings 3-1 in game 5 of their second-round playoff series.

Red Deer will face the Daysland Northstars in the best-of-five league final.

“The round against Morinville had its fair share of highs and lows,” said Rustlers captain Mike Dempster. “Tthe first few games we played smart, we stayed out of the penalty box and worked as a team. We got our forecheck going and they had a pretty good comeback in the third period of game two and that kind of gave them a boost in the next two games.”

The Rustlers won games one and two before losing games three and four to set up a do or die fifth game.

“Honestly, (the team) was pretty light before game five. We were there quite early, we were preparing for bad roads so we left earlier than normal. We had lots of time in the room and we play best when we’re loose and having fun and we want to play more hockey. We don’t want to be done.”

Red Deer scored three goals in the first period of game five to secure the win while goaltender Mike Salmon made 30 saves in net in a 3-1 win.

“Salmon was unbelievable again and we capitalized on our opportunities,” Dempster said.

The Rustlers and Northstars faced each other twice in the regular season, with each team taking home a win.

“Daysland is a tough team. They don’t take it easy on anybody,” noted Dempster. “They’ve got a lot of skill, two of their top d-men were all-stars in the league. They work hard. They’re probably one of the more physical teams in the league. It will probably be a little bit more of a physical game than Morinville, they’ve got good goaltending. We need to make sure that we try to control the play and make them play how we want to play.”

Game one of the league is Saturday at 7:30 at the Daysland Arena. Game two goes Sunday at the Penhold Multiplex at 4:30 p.m.

Both squads will travel to Lethbridge after the series to play in the Senior AA Provincials, March 26-29.