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The Red Deer Rebels' Kalan Lind scores against the Calgary Hitmen on Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium. (Red Deer Rebels/Taylor Lachance)
five game streak

Rebels continue win streak against Hitmen in overtime

Nov 28, 2023 | 10:17 PM

The Red Deer Rebels are now on a five-game win streak defeating the Calgary Hitmen 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

Their fourth of six home games, the Rebels are now 3-1-0-0 versus Calgary this season.

It was also the return of Red Deer’s Kalan Lind after missing nine games to recover from an injury that took place on October 28 against the Hitmen.

Calgary opened the scoreboard early in the first, with Chase Valiant firing in a goal at 1:56 on Rebels goaltender Rhett Stoesser. The visiting team now led 1-0.

But the Rebels quickly tied up the game on a power play when Calgary’s Sawyer Mayes was sent to the box for holding. Red Deer’s Lind tipped in his third goal of the season at 9:49 on Hitmen netminder Ethan Buenaventura. Assisted by Mats Lindgren and Ollie Josephson, the score was now 1-1.

However, just before the end of the period at 18:40, the Hitmen’s Keets Fawcett regained the lead with an unassisted goal.

Calgary was now leading 2-1, outshooting the Rebels 9-7.

While the Rebels made 14 shots on goal compared to the Hitmen’s five in the middle frame, the scoreboard remained 2-1 for the visitors.

In the final, the Rebels came back for redemption when Frantisek Formanek tied the game at 5:33. Tipping a goal in the corner with a backhander, his fifth goal of the season was assisted by Lind and Kai Uchacz, bringing the game 2-2.

At 9:45, Red Deer’s Dwayne Jean Jr. brought the team to a 3-2 lead with his first goal of the season. Jace Weir and Matteo Fabrizi got the helpers on that one.

However, with the Rebels’ Lind given a tripping penalty, the Hitmen’s Carter Yakemchuk capitalized on the power play at 18:14 to tie the game 3-3.

Pushing the game into overtime, the Hitmen outshot the Rebels 11-9 in the third period.

Just 41 seconds in, the Rebels’ Uchacz brought home the win with his 14th goal of the season. With Josephson and Lindgren getting the apples, the Rebels won 4-3.

The win brings the Rebels to fourth place in their Central Division with a record of 11-9-0-3 while the loss puts the Hitmen in fifth at 10-10-3-0.

Shots on goal

RD: 31

CGY: 25

Power play

RD: 1/6

CGY: 1/4

Three stars

1st: Frantisek Formanek (RD) – 1G

2md: Keets Fawcett (CGY) – 1G, 1A

3rd: Kai Uchacz (RD) – 1G, 1A

Rebels Head Coach Derrick Walser said out of the five straight wins for the team, this was the game he disliked the most.

“I thought we were too casual, not taking care of pucks. We want to work in the O-zone but didn’t want to work in the D-zone [with] the same work ethic. We’ll take it [the win] but we got to fix it,” he said.

He said the team has got to find a way to score more than three goals for the next game.

The Rebels will head into their fifth home game at the Peavey Mart Centrium this Friday against the Moose Jaw Warriors. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio at 6:30 p.m.