By Sheldon Spackman

Game 1 Friday, April 22 at Peavey Mart Centrium

Rebels ready to battle Brandon in first round of WHL playoffs

Apr 18, 2022 | 2:30 PM

The Red Deer Rebels are ready to drop the puck on their opening series of the 2021-2022 WHL playoffs against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Beginning Friday, April 22, the 45-19-2-2 Rebels who finished third in the WHL’s Eastern Conference will play host to the 35-28-3-2 Wheat Kings, who finished sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series starts at 7 p.m. at the Peavey Mart Centrium, while Game 2 is Saturday, April 23, 7 p.m., at the Centrium.

Rebels Head Coach Steve Konowalchuk says he’s expecting a tight series with Brandon.

“They’re a good hockey team. They’re a team that was banged up a lot this year throughout different parts of the year. Early they were hurt, then they got guys back, then they were hurt to finish the season,” he recalls. “So for us, like a lot of teams, you’re going to focus on your own game and dictate our own game. But they’re a deep team up front, they have a couple good mobile defencemen that move the puck that log a lot of ice time and you’ve got to be aware of them on the ice.”

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He says the Wheat Kings are also strong system-wise, clogging the neutral zone.

“They’re a good structure team and they work hard and they’ve got some skill, mixed in with some guys that grind, and some offensive defencemen and some guys on the back end that are bigger,” he explains. “I expect it to be a hard fought series.”

Reflecting on what he describes as a satisfying regular season, Konowalchuk credits the player’s consistent work ethic as being key to the team’s success.

“As the regular season goes, there’s also some individual success, obviously with Bainsy (Arshdeep Bains) and Kinger (Ben King) having big seasons, and there’s some young guys that have turned heads for the draft as well, so for both individuals and the team, pretty successful and pretty satisfying,” he exclaims.

“I feel we have a good combination of skill and grit,” shares Konowalchuk. “Our skill players led by King and Bains played gritty hockey for the most part all season, that’s why it helped them get a lot of points. But I think the combination of skill and grit with consistent work ethic, not taking a lot of nights off and being able to get some extra wins where maybe if you get too emotional or you get complacent, you’re not going to win the game. But I thought our guys were pretty dedicated for the most part every day.”

With some game postponements during the regular season due to COVID-19, Konowalchuk acknowledges it may feel like a longer season for many of the players.

“For a lot of these guys, they’ve never played junior hockey playoffs, so it’s a good experience for them and should be some good excitement,” he exclaims. “For our team, it’s about work ethic and competing and playing for one another. I think that’s important and magnified going here into the playoffs that our guys have that same energy and same compete level.”