The Red Deer Rebels' Jace Isley and the Calgary Hitmen's Carter MacAdams play at the Peavey Mart Centrium Friday night. (Red Deer Rebels/Rob Wallator)

By Alessia Proietti

4-3 L

Rebels lose in overtime to Hitmen

Mar 10, 2023 | 11:12 PM

The Red Deer Rebels lost 4-3 to the Calgary Hitmen in overtime on Friday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

In a ping-pong match of a first period, the Hitmen’s Sean Tschigerl scored his 22^nd goal this season on Rebels goaltender Chase Coward at 6:19. Assisted by Maxim Muranov and Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Calgary was on the scoreboard 1-0.

However, with the Hitmen’s Tyson Galloway in the box for hooking soon afterwards, Red Deer’s Kai Uchacz scored his 48^th goal of the season with a one-timer from the face-off circle on Calgary netminder Brayden Peters. The power play goal at 7:17, assisted by Christoffer Sedoff and Ben King, tied the game 1-1.

Less than 30 seconds later, Red Deer’s Craig Armstrong scored his ninth goal this WHL season with a wrist shot from the right side. With Mats Lindgren and Jace Isley claiming the assists, the Rebels were now in the lead 2-1.

But at 10:06, Calgary’s Sean Tschigerl scored his 23^rd goal of the season and second of the game, tying it up 2-2, with the same teammates, Riley Fiddler-Schultz and Maxim Muranov, picking up the assists.

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Then at 16:54, Red Deer’s Dwayne Jean Jr. scored his sixth goal of the season in a crowd at the crease. Assisted by Talon Brigley and Christoffer Sedoff, the Rebels reclaimed their lead 3-2.

After 20 minutes of play, both teams managed 11 shots on goal.

In the middle frame, the Rebels maintained their 3-2 lead. With a few power play opportunities on both sides, the Rebels outshot the Hitmen 17-10.

Then with time winding down in the final period and Red Deer still leading 3-2, the Hitmen pulled their goaltender Brayden Peters with just under two minutes left. The Rebels’ Jace Isley, however, then received a tripping penalty in the final minute. As a result, the Hitmen’s Carter Yakemchuk capitalized on the power play opportunity for his 16^th goal of the season with just one second left in the game. Assisted by Sean Tschigerl and Grayden Siepmann, the Hitmen tied the game 3-3, to send the game to overtime.

The Hitmen outshot the Rebels 15-4 in the third period.

In overtime, Calgary’s Riley Fiddler-Schultz scored his 28^th goal of the season with less than one minute left in the extra frame. Assists were made by David Adaszynski and Carter Yakemchuk, with the Hitmen winning the game 4-3.

Calgary outshot Red Deer 3-2 in overtime and 39-34 overall.

The Rebels went 1/4 on the power play while the Hitmen went 1/6 with the man advantage.

Rebels Coach Steve Konowalchuk said he hopes the team learns from the game and the hard lesson of penalties.

“It’s a frustrating loss. It was a lot of hard work but when you take penalties and you’re putting your team shorthanded, it catches up to you. That’s really the thing to take away from the penalties; you got to be better,” he said.

The third star was given to the Rebels’ Dwayne Jean Jr. who scored once this evening. Red Deer’s Christoffer Sedoff was awarded the second star for his two assists on the night, while the Hitmen’s Sean Tschigerl earned the first star for his two goals and one assist.

The Rebels hold a record of 40-17-3-3 while the Hitmen sit with a record of 26-26-5-3.

The Rebels will face the Hitmen once again Saturday afternoon at the Scotiabank Saddledome for the second half of the home-and-home series. Puck drop is at 2 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND Radio.