(Taylor Lachance/ Red Deer Rebels)

By Ian Gustafson

4-2 win

Rebels lead third-period comeback to defeat Brandon Wheat Kings

Nov 30, 2024 | 10:22 PM

The Red Deer Rebels came from behind in the third period to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 4-2 on Saturday night.

In front of 4,153 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium, the Rebels scored four unanswered goals including the go ahead goal with less than a minute left to secure their second straight win.

Fuder, who scored the game winner, had two points in the victory along with Talon Brigley. Goaltender Chase Wutzke also had a big night with 30 saves on 32 shots.

Rebels head coach Dave Struch said they were slow to start the game and the Wheat Kings came out hard. Despite that, they were able to weather the storm and stay in the game.

“Wutzke kept us in it there for the time needed to let us get our feet under us. We just built off of what we did last night against another good team,” he said.

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“It was special for those guys to come back and get a win.”

The two teams started the game with plenty of pace and early on both goaltenders stole the show keeping the game tied.

However, late in the period, the Wheat Kings found the back of the net on the powerplay with just over a minute left in the opening frame.

Just a few seconds into the man advantage, a shot from forward Nicholas Johnson from the right side of the net trickled in after goaltender Chase Wutzke got a piece of it.

Fifteen seconds into the second period, the Wheat Kings extended their lead off the stick of Caleb Hadland. Much like Brandon’s first goal, a sprawled out Wutzke made a couple of pad saves before it was knocked in by Hadland.

The Rebels finally got on the board with 8:32 left in the second period on their second powerplay of the evening. On the offensive rush, forward Talon Brigley batted in the puck out of the air while cutting to the net off the pass from Jaxon Fuder.

Struch said in the second and third periods they played really consistent.

“We played as a team. We’ve got 11 forwards and with a short bench it’s hard but the guys showed good conditioning that we needed to have a good push at the end,” Struch said.

The Rebels tied it 2-2 with 11:15 left in the game off a wrap around goal from Beckett Hamilton.

The equalizer turned out to be a close call because it required a video review by the officials after the goalie nearly came up with the save with his pad.

However after a 5-10 minute delay, the league determined it was a good goal.

Red Deer then took the lead with 51.1 seconds left for the first time of the evening after Fuder knocked in a rebound following a shot by Matthew Gard.

The Rebels sealed the deal shortly after with an empty net goal from defenceman Hunter Mayo.

Captain Ollie Josephson was pleased with the team’s effort on Saturday.

“We were a little slow off the start. The first period wasn’t our best but after that I thought we played really well, came together as a team, and got the win,” Josephson said.

“We weren’t worried [after going down 2-0], we know our game. It was just about doing the little things right, which leads to the big things like more goals and all that. We’ve got confidence in ourselves.”

The Rebels were without Jhett Larson in the lineup, who is injured along with defenceman Matteo Fabrizi, who remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

In addition, Kalan Lind served a three game suspension for his hit to the head against the Victoria Royals last weekend. He’ll be eligible to return in the Rebels next game.

Defenceman Dmitri Toporowski, who was with the Rebels on a try out after playing in Junior A, will be staying with the Rebels, according to Struch.

An official announcement will come early next week.

Red Deer will now hit the road for a five-game trip through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The road trip begins with a tilt in Prince Albert against the Raiders on Tuesday at 6 p.m. mountain time.

“It will be a big week for us,” Struch added. “We’ve got to learn how to play the same way on the road and we’re going to be against some good teams that play well.”