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(Red Deer Rebels/ Taylor Lachance)
5-2 los

Lack of special teams success proves costly in Rebels loss to Oil Kings

Feb 17, 2025 | 5:19 PM

The Red Deer Rebels played a solid overall game but costly mistakes, untimely penalties, and lack of powerplay success were the difference.

They fell 5-2 to the Edmonton Oil Kings in front of over 6,900 fans at the Centrium, despite outshooting their opponents 37-22.

Head coach Dave Struch said five-on-five they were strong.

“The thing that’s been biting us in the butt all year is what we felt cost us the game. It was two powerplay goals against and a missed opportunity for eight powerplays for us. Even an opportunity at the end for six-on-four,” he said.

“It’s just the simplest things. Passing, skating, timing, and even a shot on net. It seems like every time we have that opportunity on the powerplay we cave in instead of stepping up and it’s something we have to get better at.”

The Oil Kings went two-for-three on the man advantage meanwhile, the Rebels were held scoreless on eight powerplays. It’s been a struggle for Red Deer who have a league-worst powerplay with a 13.4 per cent success rate.

They are also the second most penalized team in the league with 799 penalty minutes in the Western Hockey League.

“Special teams has been a thorn in our side all year,” he added. “We play five-on-five the way we did tonight we should win a hockey game, we played pretty good. There were some momentum changes, we made some mistakes but overall, we were there five on five. The special teams really killed us tonight.”

The Oil Kings scored three straight goals in the opening period to take a commanding lead.

The first goal came from forward Lukas Sawchyn, who captalized on an opportunity in front off a pass from Josh Mori at the midway point.

Just over two minutes later, Gracyn Sawchyn scored on the powerplay followed by another goal on the five-on-three man advantage three minutes after that, off the stick of Rylen Roersma.

The Rebels pushed back with 3:21 left in the first period. Forward Jhett Larson entered the offensive zone like he was shot out of a cannon and after winning the puck battle in the left corner, passed it in front of the net to Beckett Hamilton who scored from the right side.

In the second period, neither team found the back of the net. However, the Rebels had their fair share of opportunities including a four-minute powerplay they were unable to convert on.

With momentum on their side, the Rebels added their second goal in the game with 11:20 left in the third period.

After forward Kalan Lind was stopped on a golden opportunity, Matthew Gard picked up the puck in the corner and powered his way to the net to score. Lind and Keaton Dowhaniuk picked up a point on the play.

However, the Oil Kings answered just under six minutes later, when forward Adam Jecho fired a shot past the goaltender from the slot off the pass from Gavin Hodnett.

Red Deer got a late powerplay and pulled their goalie for six attackers, but Edmonton was able to get possession of the puck and score the empty net goal.

Monday afternoon’s Family Day game brought out their biggest home crowd of the season with 6,920 fans in the building.

It was also Sockey Day in Red Deer with fans throwing socks on the ice at the end of the second period in benefit of United Way Central Alberta. The thousands of socks will go towards families in need in central Alberta.

Red Deer will return to the ice this Friday, Feb. 21 for a matchup with the Saskatoon Blades at the Centrium at 7 p.m.

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