The Red Deer Rebels play against the Saskatoon Blades at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Wednesday. (Red Deer Rebels/ Taylor Lachance)

By Alessia Proietti

Five game win streak

Rebels defeat Blades, deemed top ranking team in CHL and WHL

Jan 17, 2024 | 11:09 PM

The Red Deer Rebels beat the number one ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League, the Saskatoon Blades, in a 5-4 victory at the Peavey Mart Centrium this Wednesday night.

The Blades are also first overall in the Western Hockey League, within their Eastern Division and Eastern Conference at 62 points.

While the Rebels are currently ranked ninth in the WHL with 49 points, they had a strong week as netminder Chase Wutzke was named WHL Goaltender of the Week for the second time this season.

READ: Rebels Wutzke named WHL Goaltender of the Week

The Rebels are also now on a five-game win streak in as many consecutive home games.

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The crowd was out of their seats right from the first period as both teams went head-to-head in goal scoring. The Blades’s Rowan Calvert opened the scoreboard 1-0 in the first 40 seconds with a goal on Rebels netminder Wutzke.

Red Deer’s Talon Brigley quickly evened the game 1-1 at 3:56 on Saskatoon’s goaltender Austin Elliott. His 12^th goal this season was a rebound from his own shot off the back boards, with Ollie Josephson and Kalan Lind getting the helpers.

At 6:27, the Rebels’ Frantisek Formanek put the team in the lead 2-1 with a goal from the low slot. His 10^th goal this season was assisted by Kai Uchacz and Hunter Mayo.

This time it was the Blades who tied the match 2-2 as Fraser Minten scored at 11:15.

The Rebels regained their lead when Mayo scored his fifth season goal from the high slot at 14:06. With Brigley getting the apple, the team was now ahead 3-2.

By this point the Blades switched out Elliot as goaltender for Evan Gardner.

With three minutes left in regulation, the visiting team’s Brandon Lisowsky brought the scoreboard to an even 3-3.

After 20 minutes of play, the Rebels were outshooting the Blades 12-10.

In the middle frame, as Red Deer’s Formanek was sent to the box for high sticking, Saskatoon’s Calvert scored for the second time that evening, pushing their team ahead 4-3 on the power play.

However, the Rebels took over the lead when Mayo earned himself a hat trick and back-to-back goals against his hometown team. At 14:28, with Saskatoon’s Nicholas Andrusiak on a penalty for tripping, Mayo scored his sixth goal of the season with a one-timer from the left point. Uchacz and Lind assisted for the power play goal, tying the game at 4-4.

Just 21 seconds later, Mayo scored his seventh season goal at the top of the right circle. The team now in a 5-4 lead, Quentin Bourne and Jhett Larson claimed the assists.

The Blades slightly outscored the Rebels 12-11 in the second period.

Although Saskatoon outshot the Rebels 13-4 in the last period and pulled out their goaltender Gardner in the final two minutes, it wasn’t enough to overthrow the Rebels.

Shots on goal

RD: 27

SAS: 35

Power play

RD: 1/1

SAS: 1/3

Three stars

1^st: Hunter Mayo (RD) – 3G, 1A

2^nd: Fraser Minten (SAS) – 1G, 1A

3^rd: Talon Brigley (RD) – 1G, 1A

The win keeps the Rebels in second place in the Central Division at 23-13-1-4 while the Blades remain in first in the Eastern Division with a 29-9-2-2 record.

Rebels Head Coach Derrick Walser said that while the first goal of the game may have been a nervous mistake, it put the team on their heels for the highly anticipated night, with goaltender Wutzke holding strong for the rest of the difficult game.

“It just shows his character, his mindset. He was just there to compete and came through at the end for us,” he said.

Walser added that while both teams were missing key players due to injuries, it’s normal for this time of year, and the team needs to keep it rolling.

“I love our group. We have a lot of heart and have a lot of passion and a lot of soul but again, it’s only one day at a time. We got a long second half here and we just got to keep getting better and better each night,” he said.

“There’s always a different hero each night. We don’t count on one guy to score, we count on the group, we count on the team. The only points that matter are about standings points and that’s what we talk about all the time.”

With Mayo shooting a hat-trick on back-to-back goals, Walser said he has been regaining his confidence by making the right shot decisions.

“You just got to hit the net. That’s the one thing; it’s getting shots. It’s not always about how hard you hit it, it’s just getting it through at the right time,” he said.

Mayo said he tried a new stick this game which may have helped him achieve his first hat-trick in his WHL career.

“It was good to get that win in; first place team, I think we were all jelling pretty good today and just outworked them. Talent outworks the skill and you usually come out on top,” he said.

The Rebels will now head to their first away game on Friday in over two weeks against the Medicine Hat Tigers at the Co-op Place. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio 10 minutes before.