Members of the Red Deer Rebels and Calgary Flames shake hands following the conclusion of their thrilling AMBHL playoff series (Photo: Dan Hermanutz)

By Dan Hermanutz

AMBHL

Bantam AAA Rebels win another thriller to claim division title

Mar 13, 2020 | 11:57 AM

In the last competitive hockey game to be played in these parts for the foreseeable future, fans at the Servus Arena Thursday night were treated to an outstanding performance as the Bantam AAA Red Deer Rebels defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 to win the fifth and deciding game of their AMBHL south regional finals playoff series.

The first period had no scoring as both teams began the feeling out process for the winner take all game. The only powerplay in the first frame went to the Flames after Red Deer’s Wil Christian was called for tripping, but Red Deer was able to kill it off.

Red Deer opened the scoring 2:25 into the second period as Colby Joyce beat Calgary goalie Alex Scheiwiller after a scramble in front of the net left Scheiwiller out of position and his net wide open.

Calgary brought the game back to even with 2:47 left to play in the second when Charlie Elick got the puck in the low slot with a bit of space and was able to find a small crack in Red Deer goalie Brock Lott to find the back of the net.

After two periods Red Deer was outshooting Calgary 26-11.

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The beginning of the third period was tight-checking with neither team getting a lot of grade-A chances. The real theme of the third period was penalties. Calgary had two five-on-three powerplay opportunities to win the game, but Red Deer was able to kill both of them off with relative ease. At the end of one of them, Harrison Lodewyk jumped out of the box and got on his horse for a breakaway with blazing speed, only to be robbed by Connell’s glove.

The game-winning goal for the Rebels came on the powerplay when Josh Perrault, who had been all over the ice the entire game, found the loose puck in the crease and put it home sending Servus Arena into hysteria. The goal, assisted by Caleb Hadland and Justice Christensen, came with 4:45 left to play.

“Our special teams were huge tonight. We killed off two two-man advantages and then went and scored the game-winner on the power play. We stuck to our fundamentals and were committed to playing smart defensively,” said Justin Jarmolicz, Red Deer’s head coach.

While the game was underway, Hockey Canada released a statement stating their decision to cancel all sanctioned activities, including the remainder of the AMBHL playoffs, due to COVID-19.

“If the hockey gods shine on us maybe we’ll get the chance to win the league this year. If we don’t, we won our very last game and not many teams get to do that,” Jarmolicz pondered.