(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

Four-Goal Third Period

Rebels blank Hurricanes 5-0

Oct 7, 2022 | 11:30 PM

The Red Deer Rebels have increased their season opening winning streak to four games following a 5-0 shutout victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Peavey Mart Centrium Friday night.

Speaking to rdnewsNOW earlier this week, the Rebels’ Jace Weir said the players are “gelling well”, while Kai Uchacz said the team is sticking to their structure and “playing hard every night” as their recipe for keeping a strong start to the season.

READ: Undefeated Rebels playing with chip on their shoulder

It may have taken some time for the game to truly get started in the first period but the Rebels made it worthwhile with a power play goal at 16:24. Kalan Lind scored his first of the season on Lethbridge goaltender Harrison Meneghin with Jhett Larson and Tanner Brown claiming the assists following a holding penalty to the Hurricanes’ Zach Bansley.

After 20 minutes of play, the home team had a 1-0 lead and outshot the Hurricanes 11-6.

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The second period went by with just one single power play opportunity for the Rebels. While it did not result in a goal this time, they once again outshot the Hurricanes 12-9 for a two-period total of 23-15.

The third period was a game changer, however, with non-stop goals from the Rebels.

The Hurricanes’ Tyson Zimmer was sent to the box for interference. After a suspense-building series of passes in a trifecta between the Rebels’ Jayden Grubbe, Christoffer Sedoff and Hunter Mayo, it was the latter that made the goal-scoring shot near the blue line at 8:48. Mayo’s fourth goal of the season, the power play point put the home team up 2-0.

Lethbridge pulled out netminder Harrison Meneghin with still over four minutes left to play. Then just 16 seconds later, Red Deer’s Kai Uchacz scored his fourth goal this season on the empty net, with the help of Jace Isley. The Rebels were now up 3-0 against the Hurricanes.

With Lethbridge’s goalie Harrison Meneghin back in the net, Red Deer’s Jace Isley scored his second goal of the season at 18:45 with assists from Jace Weir and Jayden Grubbe. The Rebels were now blazing their way through the final 20 minutes with a 4-0 lead.

Less than 10 seconds later, Red Deer’s Jhett Larson tapped in one last goal for good measure. His fourth goal of the season was assisted by Craig Armstrong and brought the team’s winning total to 5-0.

Although Lethbridge outshot the Rebels in the third period 11-8, the Rebels still had an edge overall 31-26.

Red Deer went 2/5 on power plays, while Lethbridge went 0/3 with the man advantage.

The Rebels earned all three stars in the game with Matteo Fabrizi receiving the third star. Tanner Brown received the second star including one assist during the game. Craig Armstrong earned the game’s first star including one assist as well.

Another star player for the evening was Rebels’ goaltender Kyle Kelsey with his first WHL shutout. The young 18-year-old says he’s building up confidence with each game played, especially with the help of his teammates.

“I mean the boys played an amazing game. They made it really easy for me keeping the shots on the outside. I can’t take much credit for that,” he said.

Rebels coach Steve Konowalchuk agreed with the team’s strong defence, stating while the majority of the goals were made in the third period, he believes the team played their best in the first half.

“Our first two periods, we did a lot of things well. I thought we played more time in the o-zone but we didn’t get rewarded for it,” he said.

The Rebels will be back on home ice Saturday night at 7 p.m. against the Calgary Hitmen to hopefully maintain their undefeated record. The game will be broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio.