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Rebels close out preseason tournament with overtime loss to Calgary

Sep 1, 2018 | 11:24 PM

The Red Deer Rebels wrapped up their two day Preseason Tournament Saturday night with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Hitmen.

It was a tight game on the scoreboard but Rebels netminder Ethan Anders kept it close as the Hitmen outshot Red Deer 43-27 by the end of the night.

The first period saw Calgary open the scoring when Riley Fiddler-Schultz beat Anders on a wrap-around at 7:38 to earn his first goal of the preseason and make it 1-0 for the visitors.

The Rebels responded with a goal of their own several minutes later however when Alexander Alexeyev potted his first goal of the pre-season, shooting from the high slot and beating Hitmen goalie Matthew Armitage low glove-side at 18:49 on the power play to tie it up at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

The second period saw Calgary reclaim their lead though when Mark Kastelic scored his first goal of the preseason, firing it from the slot through Anders’ five-hole to make it 2-1 Hitmen, an unassisted effort that came at the 8:26 mark of the second frame.

The Hitmen would make a goalie change a few minutes later, putting Calgary native Nick Sanders between the pipes.

In the third, it seemed like the Hitmen would hang on to their one goal lead to as the clock wound down. With 24 seconds left, the Rebels pulled Anders from their net for the extra attacker and it paid off as Chris Douglas tapped it in on the power play, his first of the preseason with just 16.1 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

The extra time was short lived however as Calgary’s Zach Huber rifled one in at 1:07 of OT to give the Hitmen a 3-2 win. The unassisted goal was Huber’s second of the preseason and dropped the Rebels preseason record to 1-1 so far.

Rebels Head Coach and GM Brent Sutter feels the effort was sloppy.

“I thought we lost too many battles, we weren’t quick to pucks,” says Sutter. “I know some guys didn’t play last night and it was their first game but I thought the guys that played last night, I didn’t like much of their games at all. We didn’t battle and compete hard enough.”

Sutter says the combination of Oleg Zaitsev, Brandon Hagel and Chris Douglas was his top line of the night, but felt there were other positives also.

“I thought Alex (Alexeyev) settled into the game as it went on, thought he got better,” adds Sutter. “I thought our goalie was outstanding but exhibition sorts itself all out. I don’t want to judge it after just one weekend but as the days go by and the games go by, you’ve got to get your roster ready for the start of the regular season and some guys that we expect more from have to do more for us.”

Rebels goalie Ethan Anders, who stopped 40 of 43 shots on the night, says he was just making sure he was battling all game.

“It’s early in the year, I haven’t played a whole lot of games, like got into the groove yet,” he explains. “I was just making sure I was working hard, just battling, just so I can get the feel of being in the games again.”

Looking ahead to the upcoming season, Anders says he’s focused on puck handling and not giving up rebounds.

“I’m excited to just get in their night in, night out and just kind of prove myself every night that I can start in this league, so I’m excited for that opportunity,” adds Anders. “The score didn’t show it, shots didn’t show it but we should be good this year, I’m excited to have a good year with the team this year.”   

Elsewhere at the Rebels Preseason Tournament, the Oil Kings doubled the Ice 4-2 on Saturday afternoon while August 31 scores saw Red Deer edge Edmonton 6-5 and Calgary defeat Kootenay 4-1. 

The Rebels next preseason action is Saturday, September 8 when they host the Lethbridge Hurricanes for a 7:00 p.m. face-off at the Enmax Centrium.