(Photo by Taylor Lachance/ Red Deer Rebels)

By Ian Gustafson

First place

Rebels dominate all facets of the game to beat Tigers

Oct 25, 2024 | 10:20 PM

For the fourth time this season, the Red Deer Rebels defeated the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-2 on Friday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium.

Rebels goaltender Chase Wutzke stood on his head and made 40 saves and Carson Birnie notched two points to lead all Rebels players with 10 points in 12 games this year.

Meanwhile, Tigers star forward Gavin McKenna had a pair of assists and goaltender Harrison Menghin made 29 saves.

Rebels head coach Dave Struch said it was his teams best game of the year so far.

“I thought it was good both ways. I mean their two goals were individual defensive mistakes by us. Other than that, I give our guys full credit,” he said.

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“We worked really hard this week and put a lot of time and effort into our preparation so that investment paid off tonight.”

The Rebels struck first a minute into the game scored by Jhett Larson for his third of the season from the right circle after he was fed by Samuel Drancak.

However, the Tigers found the equalizer near the midway point of the period on the powerplay after Matthew Gard went off for a high sticking penalty. McKenna found Andrew Basha in front of the net who tipped it past Wutzke.

Medicine Hat took their first lead of the game while playing four-on-four after matching penalties were handed out for roughing. Just over four minutes after they tied the game, McKenna showed off his vision once again and found a wide open Oasiz Wiesblatt in front of the net.

With 9:01 left in the second period, the Rebels tied the game 2-2 on the powerplay. Rookie forward Jackson Fuder made a cut to the front of the net and in close buried an opportunity that slid under the pad of Meneghin off the pass from Birnie.

Birnie came up big again for the Rebels approximately four minutes later but this time was the one who scored. He knocked in the puck past the goaltender after he was fed in front of the net by Jeramiah Roberts to retake the lead.

“I thought it was one of the bet 60 minutes we’ve had all year,” Birnie said.

“From start to finish we played hard. They’re a good team and we were able to shut them down so we were pretty happy with it.

“I felt good. I can’t really say anything when the guys can pass like that and give me a wide open net. I’ve got to give it to the boys, they were making good plays tonight.”

In the third period, both goalies made some big saves to keep the score the same and after the Tigers pulled goalie captain Ollie Josephson scored with 1:26 left to secure the win.

“We played to our identity here tonight and we’ve been consistent with it for the most part in the season so far. But against these guys we have to put so much more into it because they’re that good individually and as a team,” Struch added.

“Chase made some big saves in the third period. That’s what he’s there for but I think overall our entire team played fantastic. They worked hard, played physical, and were engaged from start to finish.”

With the win, the Rebels moved into first place in the Central Division ahead of the Lethbridge Hurricanes and second in the Eastern Conference behind the Saskatoon Blades with a 7-4-1-0 record.

The Rebels will look to build off the win on the road Saturday when they head to Lethbridge to take on the Hurricanes at 6 p.m.

“No matter what the outcome of the game is, it’s staying in gear at all times, stick to the process, but we need to play to our identity to have success.”

You can tune into every Rebels game on 106.7 Rewind Radio.