(Red Deer Rebels)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

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Rebels meet Blades in first rematch since playoff defeat

Oct 21, 2023 | 10:42 PM

For the first time since a soul-crushing Game 7 defeat this past spring, the Red Deer Rebels faced the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

The Blades won four straight in the second round of the WHL Playoffs, erasing a 3-0 hole to pull off the reverse sweep, one of the rarest occurrences in sport.

And on this night, Saskatoon won 2-1, continuing to have Red Deer’s number, and improving to eight wins and two losses in their first 10 games of the young season, while Red Deer drops to 4-5-0-1.

Head Coach Derek Walser said post-game that his team worked hard.

“Seems to be the Achilles heel right now. We just can’t find a way to bury (chances),” said Walser.

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“Some of the shots are from the guys we want to get them through. We’re taking the right steps in the right process, but we just have to find a way to get more goals.”

Scoring summary

The Blades opened the scoring early in this one when Easton Armstrong (7th) put one past Rhett Stoesser on the power play at 5:57 of the first period.

Exactly seven minutes later, Jhett Larson (3rd) evened things up for Red Deer, also on the power play — and it was 1-1 after one.

In a penalty-free second, Saskatoon regained the lead when Egor Sidorov (7th) scored at 10:29, and it was 2-1 after 40 minutes.

In the final frame, Red Deer only mustered five shots on goal, none of them beating Austin Elliott in the Blades’ net.

The final score: 2-1 Blades.

Between the pipes

SAS: Austin Elliott – 26 saves, 6-0-0-0

RD: Rhett Stoesser – 23 saves, 1-1-0-0

Shots

SAS: 23

RD: 27

Power play

SAS: 1/3

RD: 1/2

Three stars

1st: Tanner Molendyk (SAS) – 2A, +1

2nd: Ollie Josephson (RD) – 13/24 faceoffs won

3rd: Trevor Wong (SAS) – 2A, +1

The Rebels also revealed their new alternate jerseys on Saturday…

Next up for the Rebels is a home date against the Seattle Thunderbirds, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. from the Peavey Mart Centrium. The broadcast can be heard live on 106.7 REWIND Radio starting at 6:30.