By Ian Gustafson

Five powerplay goals

Rebels explode on offence in 10-2 victory over Kelowna Rockets

Mar 1, 2025 | 10:28 PM

The Red Deer Rebels were on fire in the offensive zone on Saturday night.

Led by a five-point night by forward Ty Coupland, the Rebels beat the Kelowna Rockets 10-2 in front over over 5,100 fans at the Centrium.

A big reason for that was five powerplay goals from the Rebels offense, which is something they haven’t done all season. They also out shot the Rockets 56-26.

“When you score 10 goals in a game a lot is clicking,” said Coupland who scored four goals on Saturday. “Our start was really good. We continued from Friday night’s game against Calgary and kept going. Our powerplay was clicking, we were three for three in the first period. It starts from there and everyone was chipping in. It was a lot of fun out there.”

It was a full team effort for the Rebels who only had four players that finished the game without a point. Goaltender Peyton Shore also had a big night with 24 saves on 26 shots.

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“I love playing here,” Coupland added. “I used to hate playing here and now that I’m on this team I love coming to the rink every day and playing in front of these fans. They’re amazing, they get really loud, and it’s a lot of fun celebrating with them when I score.”

The Rockets found the back of the net first nearly eight minutes into the game. Rockets forward Dawson Gerwing tipped a point shot from Will Sharpe past Shore.

Nearly two minutes later, Red Deer answered with a powerplay goal of their own. Coupland fired a shot on net from the blue line that beat goaltender Rhett Stoesser with plenty of traffic in front.

With 9:01 left in the period, Coupland scored his second of the game with another powerplay marker. Rookie forward Beckett Hamilton completed a cross-ice pass to Coupland who was left alone near the right circle. He completed the one-timer to give Red Deer their first lead of the evening.

Forward Jhett Larson put the Rebels up 3-1 with their third powerplay goal of the game with just under three minutes left in the opening frame. Defenceman Derek Thurston, who was near the blue line, fed Larson at the right side of the net and he capitalized on the opportunity.

Coupland completed the hat trick on the powerplay with a one-timer from the left circle with 15:28 left in the second period following a pass from captain Ollie Josephson.

Later in the period, Kalan Lind scored his eighth goal of the season in front of the net off the pass from Samuel Drancak and Coupland.

Just over two minutes later, Talon Brigley made it 6-1 for Red Deer after he knocked in the rebound from the right side of the net.

Rebels defenceman Luke Vlooswyk then scored the Rebels fifth powerplay goal of the night with 3:31 remaining in the middle frame.

He walked in from the blue line, following a pass from his defence partner Derek Thurston, and scored on a shot that just got over the left shoulder of the netminder.

Coupland continued his career night scoring his fourth goal of the game early in the third period. He was sprung on a breakaway off a pass from Lind and just snuck the puck through the goalie’s pads to take an 8-1 lead with under 14 minutes left in the game.

At the midway point of the period, Samuel Drancak got in on the action after he threw a shot on net that redirected off a defenders skate and in.

Nearly three minutes later, defenceman Doogan Pederson potted a goal on a rebound opportunity. Pederson followed up a shot from Josephson to score Red Deer’s 10th goal of the game.

Shortly after, Andrew Petruk scored the Rockets second powerplay goal of the game to cut into the lead but the deficit was too steep to overcome.

Head coach Dave Struch said Saturday’s win was a combination of weeks of hard work and the team getting healthy after a long stretch of injuries.

“It’s always hard when you have an emotional win like last night against a team like Calgary. So, for the guys to come out tonight and really focus on playing Red Deer Rebel hockey, that was really the focus for the guys. Not worrying about who we were playing,” Struch said.

“You come out every night and you have a process to the program and you worry about your game. I think our players did a great job of that tonight.”

The Rebels remain 11 points back from the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 23-25-5-2 record.

Next up, they’ll face the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Centrium on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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