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The Red Deer Rebels' Jayden Grubbe scores against the Swift Current Broncos at the Peavey Mart Centrium on Friday night. (Red Deer Rebels/ Rob Wallator)
W 2-0

Rebels beat Broncos, back-to-back shutouts for goaltender Kyle Kelsey

Mar 17, 2023 | 10:56 PM

The Red Deer Rebels have won back-to-back shutout games following a 2-0 win over the Swift Current Broncos at the Peavey Mart Centrium Friday night.

Rebels’ goaltender Kyle Kelsey had a 9-0 shutout win last Saturday against the Calgary Hitmen at the Scotiabank Saddledome and had an encore performance Friday night in Red Deer.

The Rebels also spent St Patrick’s Day sporting their limited edition St. Patty’s themed green and black jerseys. An in-person auction was conducted at the Centrium during the game, raising funds for the Rebels Foundation for Education and Wellness. As well, three jerseys worn by Jace Isley, Ben King and Kai Uchacz will be available through an online auction, closing at 4 p.m. on March 22.

READ: Rebels auctioning game-worn St. Patrick’s Day jerseys

In the first period, Broncos’ goaltender Reid Dyck was given a penalty for delaying the game which was served by Brady Birnie. Shortly after at 4:37, the Rebels’ Jayden Grubbe scored his 18th goal of the season with a one-timer from the right face-off circle. Assisted by Frantisek Formanek and Ben King, the power play goal put the Rebels in a 1-0 lead.

Although Red Deer’s Ben King was later given a penalty for boarding, he immediately made up for it, assisting a goal in the rush within nine seconds of returning to the ice. At 13:56, Jace Isley tucked in a loose puck inside the crease to score his 29th goal this season with Talon Brigley also claiming the assist. The home team now led 2-0.

After 20 minutes of play, the Rebels outshot the Broncos 16-6.

Although both teams had various power play opportunities in the following two periods, including a major fighting offence by Red Deer’s Kai Uchacz and Swift Current’s Connor Hvidston at the end of the game, no goals were scored.

The Broncos pulled out netminder Reid Dyck in the final 30 seconds of the game but quickly put him back in when Rylan Gould earned a penalty for having too many men on the ice.

The Broncos outshot the Rebels in the second period 8-5 and 20-10 in the third period. They also outshot the Rebels 34-31 overall.

The Rebels went 1/6 on the power play while the Broncos went 0/3 with the man advantage.

Rebels Coach Steve Konowalchuk said the Broncos played hard as they fought for a playoff position, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference. However, he says his goaltender Kyle Kelsey made some big saves this game.

“There’s some good things to take away from a game where you’re playing a team that is obviously playing competitive hockey and they’re playing for their lives. I think a lot of the game we matched that intensity which is sometimes harder to do when you’re not in that situation, so good job for our guys but we got to regroup and get going here tomorrow,” he said.

The Rebels won all three stars this evening with Quentin Bourne earning the third star. Frantisek Formanek who had one assist on the night received the second star, while goaltender Kyle Kelsey won the first star for his shutout game, saving all 34 shots on goal.

The win improves the Rebels record to 42-17-3-3 while the loss drops the Broncos record to 28-32-1-3.

The Rebels will play the Swift Current Broncos again tomorrow night at the Peavey Mart Centrium in a home-ice double-header. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. with the broadcast live on 106.7 REWIND Radio.