Young and hungry: Rebels ready for 2026/27 season

The Rebels announced their opening night roster on Friday, which included a mix of young players, new players and returnees.

Poul Andersen, Owen DeWitt, Beckett Hamilton, Cameron Kuzma, Kohen Lodge, Grayden Peterson, Nolan Schmidt, Patrick Sopiarz, Cole Temple, and Kalder Varga were among the returning forwards, followed by Noah Chadi, Cameron Dillard, Jiri Kamas, Matus Lisy, and Jake Missura on defence, and in net Matthew Kondro.

Among the rookies are forwards Cash Arcand-Vandale, Luke Jamieson, Paxson Madill, and Chace Turchak, as well as defencemen Zeb Lindgren and Graeme Pickering. Goaltender Nathan Salisbury is also among the list of rookies.

The Rebels also traded for 18-year-old defenceman Kaden Meyer, who played last year for the Calgary Hitmen.

“We’ve got a really good mix right now,” Kisio added. “We’ve got some young guys coming up, like Madill and Turchak up front. They’re skilled players who can move the puck well, and they look like they can contribute to our lineup, and that’s exciting to see from young guys. We have an older group here too as well, like Kuzma and Andersen, some guys up front who can support the younger players. The same thing goes on the back end as well.”

He hopes that the team’s depth ends up being their strength, but he said that only time will tell. He wants to be a team that can confidently send out all four lines throughout the game.

“The key for us will be sticking with it for 60 minutes, and in net it looks like we’ve got two really good goalies as well,” he added.

This week, the Rebels announced they released forward Landon MacSwain, who was a regular on last year’s team.

The Rebels also reassigned defenceman Nolan Wolitski to the Devon Xtreme of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

When it came to Wolitski, Kisio said they wanted him to be in a position to play more hockey and continue to develop. Meanwhile, MacSwain was the final cut needed to solidify the roster and will look for an opportunity to play somewhere else.

Madill, 16, said he’s very excited to get he opportunity to play in the WHL and for the Rebels.

The product of Hermantown, Minnesota, played high school hockey in his hometown last year, where he had 34 points in 27 games.

“There were a lot of guys competing for a spot, and being the one who actually gets to be on the team is super special,” Madill said.

He said he’s looking forward to the home opener and expects a tougher game than when they faced each other in the preseason.

“I felt like preseason went well for me,” he said. “I think we are a solid team. We’re all pretty young, so we’re a super skilled team. The more we play together, the chemistry will build, so that will be fun to see later on.”

Veteran forward Poul Andersen said the team took some big steps throughout the preseason and is excited to see how they fare in the regular season.

He said they have a lot of potential.

“I think we could be one of the top teams in the league, if not the best. There’s still a long way to go; it is still super early, but we are ready to go,” he said.

“We have a really deep team, deeper than last year. We returned a lot of guys, so we have a lot of experience, but even the younger guys got a few games last year.”

You can listen to every Rebels game live on 106.7 Rewind Radio.

by Ian Gustafson

Young and hungry: Rebels ready for 2026/27 season

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