Talon Brigley. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

"kind of dreamed" of this

New Rebels captain, hometown kid Talon Brigley, says donning ‘C’ was “pinch me” moment

Oct 6, 2025 | 2:23 PM

Putting on the ‘C’ for the first time was a “pinch me” moment for new Red Deer Rebels captain Talon Brigley.

Now in his fifth season, the 20-year-old Brigley grew up in Sylvan Lake, just 15 minutes west of Red Deer, so he’s basically a hometown kid now leading the team he grew up cheering for.

“Any kid growing up in central Alberta came to Rebels games; I remember watching Ryan Nugent-Hopkins play, but I think the best memory I have is probably from the Memorial Cup in 2016 — that was pretty cool to be a part of and watch that.”

The WHL club announced Brigley, and his alternates, late last week.

Joining him with ‘A’s are 19-year-old defencemen Keith McInnis and Derek Thurston, 19-year-old forward Jaxon Fuder, and 18-year-old Matthew Gard.

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“It’s obviously a huge honour and it’s pretty special to me. I’m looking forward to doing the best I can and leading the right way,” Brigley told rdnewsNOW Monday from the Centrium.

(Mark Peterson Media/Prince Albert Raiders)

“I like to lead by example. I’m not the loudest guy in the room, but I feel like I’ve learned to grow that way a little bit more over the years.”

The 5’11” right winger credits past captains like Kai Uchacz, Jayden Grubbe and Ollie Josephson for teaching him the right way to go about things over the past few years.

“I don’t think you really ever envision being captain of a team, but you want to be the best leader and teammate you can be,” says Brigley, who played for the Red Deer Rebels U15 AAA program, as well as the Red Deer Chiefs U18 AAA club.

“When I was a little kid, I kind of dreamed of this a little bit. It’s really special for me to just put on that Rebels logo anytime.”

Ahead of the announcement before the weekend, Brigley had played 265 regular season games, collecting 94 points, and had also starred in 31 playoff contests.

He’d also missed just two games over the last three seasons and played all 68 regular season games in both 2022-23 and 2024-25.

Should he play 40 games this season, Brigley would set a new all-time Rebels record for regular season games played, a record currently held by Jon Zukiwsky at 301 games. If he gets there, he’ll also pass by 11 others to get to the record.

Brigley is also 24th on the all-time Rebels list for game-winning goals at 10, and the record being Justin Mapletoft’s 22.

Brigley didn’t get on the scoresheet in a pair of losses to Saskatoon and Prince Albert this weekend, but he says the vibes in the room are high as the young season kicks into full gear.

“I think it’s just fixing our mistakes. Our special teams, we can always improve on that. I think that was a big game-changer over the weekend. Going over some video and getting it fixed up,” he said. “We’ve got a big turnaround here on Tuesday, so trying to get it done as fast as we can, but have a good day today and then we’ll get ready for Tuesday.”

On Tuesday, the Rebels are at home to Lethbridge, with puck drop at 7.

They also host Moose Jaw Saturday at 7.

Both games can be heard live on 106.7 REWIND Radio starting at 6:30, and game recaps will be posted to rdnewsNOW.com.