By Sheldon Spackman

5-2

Wheat Kings parlay strong second period to victory over Rebels

Dec 5, 2023 | 9:07 PM

The Red Deer Rebels began the first of a five-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the Wheat Kings in Brandon, Manitoba, Tuesday night.

The Rebels opened the scoring early in the first period, however, when Kai Uchacz scored his 16^th goal of the season at 3:26, beating Brandon netminder Carson Bjarnason to make it 1-0 Red Deer. Frantisek Formanek and Quentin Bourne assisted on the play.

But the Wheat Kings responded soon afterwards following a boarding penalty to Red Deer’s Jhett Larson. Brandon’s Nolan Flamand scored his seventh of the season, on the power play, with assists coming from Luke Shipley and Sylvan Lake, AB native, Caleb Hadland, to make it 1-1.

Then Red Deer native Nate Danielson scored his ninth goal of the season for the Wheat Kings, beating Rebels netminder Rhett Stoesser, to give Brandon a 2-1 lead. Roger McQueen and Brett Hyland offered the helpers.

Red Deer tied it back up at 2-2 though when Carson Birnie scored his fourth of the season at 16:02. Dwayne Jean Jr. and Ollie Josephson were credited with the assists.

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Red Deer outshot Brandon 10-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

The second period saw the Wheat Kings take the lead, however, when Luke Shipley scored his third of the season at 2:11, with Dominik Petr and Rylen Roersma adding the helpers to make it 3-2. It would later prove to be the game-winning goal.

Brandon had more to come in the middle frame though as Brett Hyland scored his 15^th of the season at 12:47, thanks to assists from Seth Tansem and Roger McQueen to add a little breathing room for the home team, making it 4-2.

Less than three minutes later, the Wheat Kings Nate Danielson would score his second of the game and 10^th of the season against his hometown team, putting Brandon in a 5-2 lead. Quinn Mantei had the lone assist.

Brandon outshot Red Deer 21-6 in the second period.

In the third, the Rebels made a goalie change, putting Chase Wutzke between the pipes.

Then with a little over three minutes to play in regulation, Red Deer pulled its goalie a couple of different times in hopes of tying the game, but it was not to be as it would finish in a 5-2 final.

Red Deer outshot Brandon 9-8 in the third period, but the Wheat Kings would outshoot the Rebels 37-25 overall.

On special teams, the Rebels went 0/5 on the power play, while the Wheat Kings went 1/3.

The game’s three stars were as follows:

1. Nate Danielson, Brandon – 2G, 0A, +3

2. Luke Shipley, Brandon – 1G, 1A, +1

3. Brett Hyland, Brandon – 1G, 1A, +3

The loss drops the Rebels record to 12-10-0-3, good for fourth place in the WHL’s Central Division.

The Rebels next action is Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, 6:00 p.m. MDT, at the Moose Jaw Events Centre against the 17-10-0-1 Warriors.

You can catch all the action live on 106.7 Rewind Radio.

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