The Regina Pats' Connor Bedard and the Red Deer Rebels' Mats Lindgren compete at the Peavey Mart Centrium Tuesday night. (Red Deer Rebels/Rob Wallator)

By Alessia Proietti

Electrifying OT victory

Rebels beat Pats 6-5 in front of record crowd at Centrium

Jan 31, 2023 | 11:13 PM

With a sold out, record-breaking crowd, the Red Deer Rebels fought their way to a 6-5 win against the Regina Pats in overtime on Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

While the previous regular season attendance record for the Rebels at the Centrium was 7,208 set in March 2016 against Edmonton, tonight’s game brought 7,287 fans many of whom came to see the one and only Connor Bedard. According to Westerner Park, 250 standing room tickets were added and then fully sold Tuesday morning within six minutes.

Even the Rebels 50/50 jackpot brought in over $100,000.

Along with a stellar Rebels team sitting atop the Central Division, and ranked #9 in today’s CHL Power Rankings, Bedard was a huge draw due to this likely being his final game in Red Deer before the NHL Draft this summer.

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The Rebels kicked off scoring early, Ben King scoring a little more than a minute in; King picked up a loose puck in the slot and got it past Pats goaltender Kelton Pyne for his eighth.

Less than two minutes later, the Rebels doubled their lead with the man advantage; Kai Uchacz getting his team-leading 39th of the year when the puck ricocheted in off his shin.

The tables turned when Red Deer’s Jace Isley was given a penalty for goaltender interference. Regina’s Borya Valis capitalized to score his 16^th of the season at 5:12, beating Red Deer netminder Rhett Stoesser, and it was 2-1 home team.

At 8:10, Red Deer regained its two-goal lead off a three-on-two rush. Captain Jayden Grubbe took the first shot, before it rebounded to Craig Armstrong who potted it for his sixth of the season.

Then the crowd got the first part of what it came to see, that is a Bedard goal, with the phenom scoring his 43rd at 13:39, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

The period ended with Rebels Kai Uchacz and Jayden Grubbe, as well as Regina’s Luke Bateman all receiving roughing minors.

In the middle frame, with all three players still in the box, Regina’s Alexander Suzdalev notched his 25^th of the season on the power play at 1:27, and things were knotted at three.

Red Deer would regain the lead when Grubbe scored his 14^th goal, and second of the night, off a rebound in front at 3:06.

Only 20 seconds later, Regina’s Sam Oremba tied it up at 4-4, scoring his fifth goal.

Then Regina would get its first lead of the night at 9:50, as Valis got his 17^th with help from Bedard and Tanner Howe; Regina led 5-4.

In the third, Red Deer’s Ben King was having none of it, and tied the game with a laser at the 6:50 mark; and that’s how regulation concluded.

In overtime, it didn’t take long for the Rebels to bring home the win. Jhett Larson scored his 12^th of the season from the slot at 2:16, sealing the deal for a very hard-fought 6-5 victory in front of the record number of fans in attendance.

In the game, the Rebels outshot the Pats 32-22, each taking one in overtime.

Larson earned the third star of the evening for his game-winning goal. Bedard was given second star for his goal and two assists, bringing his goal streak to 10 games and point streak to 34 games. Red Deer’s King was given first star for his two goals on the night.

“It was an exciting game. I think we’re going to see a lot of those games down the stretch here. Teams are fighting for playoff positions,” said Rebels Head Coach Steve Konowalchuk about the big-stage game. “It had to be a lot of fun for our players to play in front of a good crowd like that.”

Larson echoed that sentiment.

“It was unreal; you never felt like you’re out of the game because the crowd was just with you. It really gave us energy at the end of that game,” he said.

When it came to the Bedard, Konowalchuk said he wasn’t happy with the way the team, “gave up his goal.”

“The first goal though we could have been a little bit smarter. You can’t give that kind of a chance, really to anybody, let alone him,” he said.

“You could be doing a lot of things well; it only takes one mistake and it turns into a real scoring chance against us which magnifies those mistakes when you got a couple of players on their team who can move the puck and score like they can.”

Larson said the team stayed with it by focusing on their own game plan rather than on Bedard.

“We tried not to worry about him too much tonight. We just tried to play our game and see what that would do. Our team played well tonight,” he said.

Konowalchuk concluded by giving kudos to his team for a solid defensive effort in the third when the game was really on the line.

The Rebels now head out on the road for five straight away from home over the next two weeks.

The Rebels visit the Spokane Chiefs Saturday night. Puck-drop is at 8:05 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND Radio starting at 7:55.