By Sheldon Spackman

5-2 Loss

Rebels seven game winning streak ends in Saskatoon

Mar 5, 2022 | 8:56 PM

The Red Deer Rebels seven game winning streak has come to an end following a 5-2 loss to the Blades in Saskatoon Saturday night.

It was an abrupt and unexpected end to Red Deer’s successful run over the past couple of weeks, which began when Saskatoon opened the scoring at 13:41 of the first period. Noah Boyko beat Rebels goalie Chase Coward for his 15^th goal of the season, with Rhett Rinehart and Jayden Wiens assisting on the play.

Less than three minutes later, Red Deer’s Jackson van de Leest was called for tripping, giving Saskatoon the man advantage and the Blades capitalized. Rhett Rinehart scored his seventh of the season at 16:18, with Kyle Crnkovic and Tristen Robins getting the assists to make it 2-0 Saskatoon.

Then with just under a minute left to play in the opening period, Tristen Robins lit the lamp at 19:05 for his 26^th goal of the season to make it 3-0 Blades. Tanner Molendyk assisted on the play, which later proved to be the game winning goal.

After 20 minutes, Saskatoon had a three goal lead and outshot the Rebels 12-9.

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The second period saw Red Deer dig a deeper hole for themselves when Josh Medernach was called for holding at 3:49, giving Saskatoon a power play which they took advantage of, as Tristen Robins found the back of the net again for his second goal of the game and 27^th of the season at the 5:11 mark. Kyle Crnkovic and Tanner Molendyk were credited with the assists which gave the Blades a 4-0 lead.

The goal led to Red Deer making a goalie change, with Chase Coward coming out and Connor Ungar going in.

Vaughn Watterodt then made it a 5-0 spread when he scored his fifth goal of the season at 10:36 with Jayden Wiens getting the assist.

After 40 minutes, Saskatoon had a 5-0 lead and outshot Red Deer 6-5 in the second period for a two period total of 18-14 in favour of the Blades.

The Rebels came out fast in the third period however, when Arshdeep Bains scored just 21 seconds in for his 30^th goal of the season, with assists coming from Ben King and Christoffer Sedoff to make it 5-1 Blades.

Red Deer didn’t quit though, as Christoffer Sedoff scored his fourth goal of the season at 13:55 on the power play following a hooking penalty to Saskatoon’s Marek Schneider. Arshdeep Bains chipped in with a helper to make it 5-2, which is where the score remained when the final buzzer sounded.

Red Deer outshot Saskatoon 16-10 in the third period for a three period total of 30-28 in favour of the Rebels, but it was the Blades who finished on top where it mattered most.

Saskatoon swept the three star selections on the night as well, with Tanner Molendyk getting the third star, Rhett Rinehart the second star, and Tristen Robins named the game’s first star with two goals and one assist on the night.

It was a successful night for the Rebels on the power play at least, going 2/2 with the man advantage while Saskatoon went 2/5.

The Blades win improves their record to 30-18-3-1 with 64 points and third place in the WHL’s Eastern Division, while Red Deer drops to 36-16-2-1 with 75 points and second place in the Central Division.

The Rebels return home now and prepare for a tilt with the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday, Mar. 11. Face-off is 7:00 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium. You can also listen live on 106.7 Rewind Radio.