The Red Deer Rebels play against the Calgary Hitmen at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Tuesday. (Red Deer Rebels/Taylor Lachance)

By Alessia Proietti

Full 60 minutes

Rebels break losing streak with massive 6-1 win against the Hitmen

Feb 13, 2024 | 10:46 PM

The Red Deer Rebels broke their seven-game losing streak with a massive 6-1 win against the Calgary Hitmen on Tuesday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

It was also the Rebels’ Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) #TalkToday game, an annual initiative promoting mental health awareness and suicide prevention programs for amateur sports in the country. Officials say one in five youth struggle with mental health issues. They add that across the Canadian Hockey League’s three member leagues, the Talk Today program has provided over 4,810 players, coaches, billet parents, and staff with mental health and suicide awareness training since its inception.

In the latter part of the first period, as Calgary’s Fraser Leonard sat in the box for tripping, Red Deer’s Samuel Drancak scored his eighth goal this season through the back door from a rebound off goaltender Ethan Buenaventura. The power play goal at 15:40 was assisted by Jhett Larson and Mats Lindgren, putting the Rebels on the scoreboard 1-0.

With 26 seconds left in regulation, the Rebels’ Kai Uchacz scored his 35^th goal of the season from the point. With Carson Birnie getting the helper, the team doubled their lead to 2-0.

The Rebels were outshooting the Hitmen 13-10 after 20 minutes of play.

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In the middle frame, the Rebels capitalized on another man advantage while the Hitmen’s Tyson Greenway served a hooking penalty. Ollie Josephson scored his eighth goal, and first on the power play, this season from the faceoff circle at 5:33. Hunter Mayo and Uchacz got the apples, pushing the team lead to 3-0.

Nearing the halfway point, Red Deer’s Talon Brigley scored his 14^th goal of the season from the low slot, with Josephson and Elias Carmichael claiming the assists. The Rebels were now ahead 4-0.

The Rebels slightly outshot the Hitmen 9-8 in the second period.

In the final period, Larson scored his 12^th of the season at 7:20 from inside the crease. With Uchacz and Frantisek Formanek assisting the goal, the Rebels continued their dominance with a 5-0 lead.

The Hitmen finally made it to the scoreboard at 15:44 with a goal by Ben Kindel on Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke, putting them behind the home team 5-1.

Towards the end, Carter Yakemchuk, Greenway, and Kindel for Calgary were given roughing, misconduct, and holding penalties, respectively, while Matteo Fabrizi was given a misconduct penalty.

With Red Deer having the man advantage and 44 seconds left in regulation, Zane Saab scored his third goal of the season off a rebound from the top of the crease. Matthew Gard and Dwayne Jean Jr. assisted the power play goal, for a final winning score of 6-1.

The Hitmen were the ones to outshoot the Rebels in the third period 14-12.

Shots on goal

CGY: 32

RD: 34

Power play

CGY: 0/4

RD: 3/6

Three stars

1^st: Chase Wutzke (RD) – SV 31

2^nd: Jhett Larson (RD) – 1G, 1A

3^rd: Kai Uchacz (RD) – 1G, 2A

The win keeps the Rebels in second place of the Central Division with a record of 28-17-2-6, while the loss puts the Hitmen in fifth place at 22-22-6-1.

Rebels Head Coach Derrick Walser said he was pleased to see the team play for a full 60 minutes.

“It’s not easy, the way the score was, to try to keep it that way but that was our test tonight. We wanted to play a complete game for 60 minutes and that’s just been killing us; we’re getting periods here and there but not a 60-minute effort and tonight was a good job,” he said.

Team Captain Uchacz said the win was much needed for the team, especially against neighbouring rivals like Calgary.

“A little bit in the second, when we did get the lead, we were kind of getting a little fancy at times, but I thought the guys responded well and once we addressed it in intermission, we went out and had a simple third and we were able to check a few more in,” he said.

As one of the top goal scorers in Rebels franchise history, Uchacz said it could not have been achieved without his teammates over the past three years and hopes to continue contributing as much as he can.

Walser gave a shoutout to goaltender Wutzke for battling strongly and confidently in the net and to the players for executing what they were taught to do during power plays.

However, the team now needs to focus for their next game, he says.

“It’s up, it’s over, it’s forgotten; now we got to make sure that we’re set for tomorrow’s practice and we can focus on Edmonton. We got a lot of hockey left, a lot of battling and positioning here to get going, but it’s just a building block and it’s nice to see how fast we were on our toes. We were forechecking, we weren’t backing in, and that’s what we got to get back to. That’s our game and that’s a good building block tonight,” he said.

The Rebels will face the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Friday. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND radio at 6:30 p.m.

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