(Taylor Lachance/ Red Deer Rebels)

By Ian Gustafson

6-2 loss

Rebels fall to Hitmen in fifth straight loss

Jan 3, 2025 | 10:08 PM

The Red Deer Rebels struggles continued in a 6-2 loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Friday night.

In front of the home crowd at the Peavey Mart Centrium, Red Deer couldn’t find the back of the net in the first two periods but a strong final frame gave them life.

Unfortunately, Calgary’s lead was too steep to overcome in the final 20 minutes.

“In the last 13 minutes of the first we pushed back and played with lots of energy. We had a game plan and stuck to it. In the second period we completely shot ourselves in the foot,” said head coach Dave Struch.

“Our back end over handled the puck and we didn’t defend the right way. We leave that second period down 4-0 when it could have been a 1-0 game. The third period was probably our best period in probably four or five games.”

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This marked their fifth straight set back which includes eight losses in their last 10 games.

The Hitmen struck first 3:10 into the game scored by defenceman Kalen Parker who fired a shot from the blue line that redirected off a Rebels defender and in.

In the second period, the Hitmen added three quick goals to extend their lead. Just over the midway point, defenceman Dax Williams capitalized on an opportunity in the slot.

Under a minute later, Hitmen forward Ethan Moore stole the puck from Hunter Mayo in the Rebels own end before beating netminder Chase Wutzke on the back hand.

The Hitmen wrapped up the frame with a goal to make it 4-0 a little over three minutes later off the stick of Sawyer Mayes, who knocked in a rebound in front of the net.

Carson Birnie followed up on a rebound 37 seconds into the third period to score the Rebels first goal but the Hitmen answered minutes later on a one-timer in the slot on the powerplay from defenceman Carter Yakemchuk.

Forward Jaxon Fuder brought the Rebels within three after scoring a shorthanded goal on a breakaway with 12:55 remaining.

Red Deer had plenty more scoring chances in the third but were unable to capitalize.

On some of the opportunities it appeared the Rebels had a bit of bad luck on their side with a few unfortunate bounces that could have been in back of the net.

“It’s just the way it is for us and we can’t feel sorry for ourselves,” Struch added. “We have to get ourselves out of it and we have to build off that first and third period. [We have] to find a way to win tomorrow night.”

The Hitmen sealed the deal with a powerplay goal with 2:37 left in the game scored by Oliver Tulk in front of the net off a pass from Connor Hvidston.

The Hitmen went two-for-three on the man advantage and the Rebels were held scoreless on a single powerplay attempt. In addition, Wutzke made 36 saves for Red Deer and Hitmen goalie Anders Miller made 32 saves.

Red Deer will return to the ice on Saturday to host the Regina Pats at the Centrium at 7 p.m.

The Rebels are still without captain Ollie Josephson who left the game on Monday with what appeared to be a lower-body injury. Struch did not have an update on Josephson’s status.

Catch all Rebels action on 106.7 Rewind Radio.