Red Deer Rebels win 11th consecutive game to start the season against the Victoria Royals at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Wednesday. (Red Deer Rebels/ Rob Wallator)

By Alessia Proietti

11th consecutive win

Rebels tie second longest WHL win streak to start a season

Oct 26, 2022 | 11:29 PM

The Red Deer Rebels have worked their way to tying the second-longest winning streak to start a season in WHL history with their 11^th consecutive victory, beating the Victoria Royals 6-2 at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Wednesday.

The milestone ties an achievement previously set by the 2021-2022 Winnipeg Ice last season.

This also came even as star-player Ben King was directed to stay off the ice for six to eight weeks due to a lower-body injury.

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Rebels blank Raiders for tenth consecutive victory

The Rebels kept their winning momentum in the first period when Kai Uchacz netted a goal from a rebound off goaltender Tyler Palmer’s pad at 11:17. His eighth goal of the season was assisted by Christoffer Sedoff and Quentin Bourne, bringing the home team to a 1-0 lead.

At 14:49, Red Deer’s Carson Birnie scored his first goal this season, with the assist made by Christoffer Sedoff. The Rebels pushed their lead to 2-0.

However, just before the end of the period, Red Deer’s Jayden Grubbe was sent to the box for cross checking. Taking advantage of the power play, the Royals’ Teague Patton scored his fourth goal of the season on Rebels netminder Rhett Stoesser at 18:49, with Tanner Scott and Kalem Parker making the assists to bring the score to 2-1 for the Rebels.

After 20 minutes of play, the Rebels outshot the Royals 12-4.

In the second, Victoria’s Luke Shipley was given a penalty for delay of game, to which Red Deer’s Frantisek Formanek was then given his own two minutes in the box for charging. With still an even set on the ice, the Rebels’ Kai Uchacz managed to score his ninth goal of the season and second of the game, later proving to be the game winner, just passed the halfway mark. With the help of Hunter Mayo and Craig Armstrong, the Rebels lead was now 3-1.

Shortly after, Red Deer’s Matteo Fabrizi scored his third goal of the season from the point at 13:23, with assists from Jace Weir and Craig Armstrong. The period ended with the Rebels in a 4-1 lead and the home team once again outshooting the Royal 12-5 in the middle frame.

The third period was no different than the others for the Rebels, even with one man down. With Jayden Grubbe in the box for interference, Dwayne Jean Jr. still managed to score his third goal of the season, and first ever as a Rebel, with his skate. The shorthanded goal was assisted at 5:17 by Christoffer Sedoff and Jace Isley, to bring the Rebels lead to 5-1.

Later, with a one man advantage, Red Deer’s Jace Isley still scored his sixth goal of the season at 9:48. With the Royals’ Austin Zemlak in the box for tripping, the Rebels’ power play goal was assisted by Jhett Larson and Jace Weir. The home team now lead 6-1.

The Royals at this point exchanged goaltender Tyler Palmer for Logan Cunningham.

By the end of the game, Red Deer’s Jayden Grubbe received a 10-minute misconduct penalty and two minutes for delaying the game which was served by Frantisek Formanek. With two men down, Victoria’s Reggie Newman scored his third goal of the season at 18:19. The power play goal was assisted by Kalem Parker and Anthony Wilson, bringing the final score to 6-2 for the Rebels.

The Rebels slightly outshot the Royals in the final period 7-6 and more than doubled them overall (31-15).

The home team also went 1/3 on power play while Victoria went 2/4 with the man advantage.

All three stars this game went to the Rebels with the third given to Matteo Fabrizi who scored one goal on the evening. The second star went to Christoffer Sedoff who contributed three assists, while the first star was awarded to Kai Uchacz who scored twice on the night.

Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk said although some top players like Ben King were not in the lineup this evening, it left opportunity for other players, like Dwayne Jean Jr., to step up and take on more leadership.

However, the main focus, he says, is to not keep track of each win, but to reset at each game.

“For a couple games when the record was here to start the season, I think that inspired them a little bit but they’re having a lot of fun and they’re committed,” he said.

“It’s just trying to be real consistent and [play] like it’s your last game.”

Kai Uchacz echoed the coach’s statement that many teammates who haven’t played in a while stepped up their game.

“We’ve been focusing on being a good defensive team; it leads to more offence,” he said.

The longest win streak in WHL history is 12 set by the 1988-89 Swift Current Broncos.

The Rebels will have a chance to tie this streak at their next game on Friday against the Vancouver Giants at the Peavey Mart Centrium at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio.