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

By Alessia Proietti

emotional ending

Rebels’ time in WHL playoffs comes to a close with 7-0 loss against the Blades

Apr 17, 2024 | 10:19 PM

It was an emotional and somber night at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Wednesday as the Red Deer Rebels ended their time in the WHL playoffs following a 7-0 loss against the Saskatoon Blades.

In a best-of-seven series for round two, the Rebels went 0-4, the final two games with goaltenders Rhett Stoesser and Chase Wutzke out from injury. It was announced today that the Blades’ forward Easton Armstrong got a four-game suspension for charging Wutzke during game two. Rebels forward Frantisek Formanek was also suspended from tonight’s game for last night’s major spearing.

Rebels netminder Taylor Tabashniuk made his WHL debut over the past two games, earning many encouraging cheers from the crowd.

Before this, the Rebels succeeded in round one of the playoffs over five games against the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Saskatoon is now the first team headed to the WHL Playoffs Conference Finals.

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The first period was not easy for the home team, with the Blades’ Egor Sidorov scoring on Rebels goaltender Tabashniuk within the first three minutes for a 1-0 lead.

Even with Sidorov sent off the ice for a cross checking penalty, Rowan Calvert still managed to score a shorthanded goal three minutes later, now 2-0.

Sidorov scored his second goal of the game at 16:48, tripling Saskatoon’s lead 3-0.

Finally, Brandon Lisowsky scored with just over a minute left in regulation, bringing the team to a 4-0 lead.

The Blades had double the shots on goal compared to the Rebels after 20 minutes of play (12-6).

In the second period, Saskatoon’s Sidorov earned his second hat trick in back-to-back games with a goal at 2:15, the scoreboard now 5-0.

At 13:03, the Blades’ Fraser Minten pushed their lead to 6-0.

Red Deer outshot Saskatoon this time in the middle frame 13-9.

With the Rebels’ Hunter Mayo given a double minor for high sticking early in the final period, the Blades’ Alexander Suzdalev scored a power play goal at 4:52, closing their shutout win at 7-0.

Saskatoon outshot Red Deer 10-7 in the third.

Shots on goal

SAS: 31

RD: 26

Power play

SAS: 1/3

RD: 0/2

Three stars

1st: Egor Sidorov (SAS) – 3G, 2A

2nd: Evan Gardner (SAS) – SV26

3rd: Brandon Lisowsky (SAS) – 1G, 2A

Rebels Head Coach Dave Struch emotionally shared his thoughts following their final playoff game of the season.

“It’s sad for all of us, for us to go through what we’ve gone through for the last six weeks, the effort that the guys have put in. For anything to end, when you love the game as much as these guys do, it’s [an] emotional finish. You expect and you want more but [it] just wasn’t meant to be,” he said.

He said the team didn’t quit, even when they were down by four goals in the first period, and instead got better as they went on. He echoed the same sentiment for goaltender Tabashniuk and forward Steven Steranka, a 2007-born forward from Regina, who made his WHL debut with the team tonight.

Having been with the Rebels for roughly six weeks as interim head coach, Struch said it was a unique situation to come into and he hopes to be back next year.

“The time with this group of kids, right from the young guys that have come in at the end here, the leadership group that’s going to be moving forward, the 20-year-olds that will be moving out; their response to a very difficult situation was fantastic. They made me feel comfortable and they worked real hard for me, for us, as a coaching staff and we saw them all develop so I hope things turn out well,” he said.

“I’m a very emotional person and I take a lot of pride in what I do and for the guys to work as hard as they did for us, that was the most important thing for me to take away as a coach, as a person, as a father, as a mentor, as a leader. It was really special for me and I can’t thank the guys enough.”

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