By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Rebels and Blades play overtime thriller at the Centrium

Oct 26, 2018 | 11:01 PM

When the Red Deer Rebels and Saskatoon Blades meet, they tend to create quite an entertaining game of hockey.

It was no different Friday night as the two teams met for the third time already in this young Western Hockey League season. Going in, Red Deer had won once at home and lost in overtime in Saskatoon, both thrilling contests.

In the first period, Max Gerlach scored his 8th goal of the season just 3:55 in, that goal also his fourth against the Rebels in seven periods of play.

About seven minutes later, Rebels scorching hot forward Brandon Hagel extended his point-scoring streak to five games with his 11th goal of the campaign. The period ended 1-1.

In the middle frame, Hagel was at it again, scoring his 12th (and second of the night) just under four minutes in to make it 2-1 Rebels.

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Still a penalty-free game, Jeff de Wit made a slick move in front of the net at the 11-minute mark to score and stretch Red Deer’s lead to 3-1.

Saskatoon took a pair of penalties late in the period, one of which was against Kirby Dach that carried over to start the third.

Red Deer failed to capitalize before getting into their own penalty trouble, giving Saskatoon three cracks on the man advantage in the period.

Though the Blades could not score a man up, they did manage goals at 12:00 and 17:55 to tie things up at 3-3. The game-tying goal by Kirby Dach, his 8th of the season, was a thing of beauty.

Heading to overtime, Red Deer was 2-1 on the season, including a loss to the Blades.

At 1:21, it ended as Alex Morozoff sealed the deal for the Rebels with his 2nd of the season. Alex Alexeyev and Chris Douglas (who left the game temporarily in the second) got the assists.

Red Deer improves to 9-4-1-0 with the win and 7-1-0-0 at home. They now play five straight games on the road while the Enmax Centrium is occupied by Canadian Finals Rodeo.

The Booster Juice three stars of the game were Reese Johnson (***), Nolan Maier (**) and Brandon Hagel (*). Hagel now has eight goals and two assists over a five-game point streak. He has 25 points, good enough for a tie for 2nd in league scoring.

Rebels netminder Ethan Anders picked up his eighth win of the season, while Maier stopped 44 of 48 shots in a losing effort at the other end.

The final shots were 48-26 Red Deer. The Rebels, now 2-0-1-0 in the season series, don’t play the Blades again until March 3 in Saskatoon.

Red Deer plays next on Sunday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay Ice. Puck drop is 4 p.m. and the broadcast can be heard LIVE on 106.7 The Drive starting at 3:50.