(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Ian Gustafson

3-2

Blades defeat Rebels in OT following controversial no-call

Feb 21, 2025 | 10:38 PM

The Red Deer Rebels looked down and out.

Down 2-0 to the Saskatoon Blades with just minutes left in the game, Red Deer had the shot output but were unable to buy a goal.

That was until they scored their first goal with 1:43 left in the third period. With the goalie pulled, forward Kalan Lind tipped a shot past the goaltender off a shot from captain Ollie Josephson.

They then tied it with 26.2 seconds left. With the goalie pulled again, the Blades missed the net on a wide open opportunity, which was immediately taken up ice by the Rebels.

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Red Deer attempted to fire the puck into the offensive zone but it redirected off a Blades defender and onto the stick of forward Beckett Hamilton, who got in behind the defence. He fired in a perfectly placed wrist shot into the top corner of the net.

However, in overtime the Blades got the last laugh beating Red Deer 3-2 in the final minute. The result was heartbreaking for the Rebels, who out shot the Blades 42-29.

With 19 seconds left in the extra period, Blades David Lewandowski released a shot that beat goaltender Chase Wutzke over his shoulder.

The goal didn’t come without controversy. The crowd of over 3,500 fans at the Centrium rained down “refs you suck” chants after a no-call was made on an alleged penalty behind the play.

Rebels forward Samuel Drancak appeared to get tied up by a Blades player but the refs decided to keep their whistles in their pockets. This led to a three-on-two opportunity for Saskatoon.

The controversial ending made for animated reactions from the Rebels bench, including head coach Dave Struch who stayed on the bench following the games conclusion to get an explanation.

Struch had no comment on the incident after the game.

“In the second period we had 15 shots, we had good opportunities, and we just didn’t bear down,” he said.

“Every shot we took, the secondary or third was in his pads or chest. In the third period we had more opportunities to win the game and then we let them get behind us. We had to work that much harder to get it to overtime and then we saw what happened in overtime.”

The Saskatoon Blades got on the board first and scored the lone goal of the opening period. Forward Tanner Scott scored on the backhand after he corralled the rebound in front of the net following a shot from Jordan Martin.

In the second period, the Rebels out shot the Blades 15-5 but were unable to find the back of the net, including on the powerplay.

The Blades added their second of the game with 7:17 left in the game, scored by captain Ben Saunderson who was fed in front of the net by William James on the offensive rush.

Blades goaltender Ethan McCallum made 40 saves on 42 shots and Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke made 26 saves.

“The first 10 minutes was the kicker right there. That’s the perfect lesson for us that it’s a 60 plus minute game and we didn’t play hard enough in the first 10 minutes. We got behind and started chasing from there,” he added.

The powerplay continues to struggle for Red Deer who went 0-for-2 on Friday night. However, the coaching staff experimented on the man advantage putting out five forwards each time to try to buy a goal.

“It’s just to try to get something going. I mean you’ve seen our powerplay it’s really struggled this year. We saw some good things on the first one and we didn’t like the second one. This is something we’ll get an opportunity to work on and we’ll continue to do that this week.”

Red Deer is now off until next Friday, Feb. 28 when they host Calgary Hitmen at 7 p.m. at the Centrium.

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