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Rebels ground Rockets in 7-0 blowout

Nov 16, 2018 | 10:46 PM

The depth of the Red Deer Rebels was on full display Friday night as seven different players scored in a rout of the Kelowna Rockets at the Enmax Centrium.

The final score was 7-0, though that isn’t a score-line which necessarily represents how hard the Rockets played. Red Deer capitalized on nearly every opportunity, while Kelowna’s puck luck was non-existent.

“From our first shift, we played the way we wanted to play as far as being persistent and hard on pucks,” said Head Coach Brent Sutter post-game. “We had to get in the trenches and win some battles to be competitive.”

Red Deer got on the board 11 minutes into the game with some special teams luck as Brandon Hagel scored his team leading 14th goal on a shorthanded breakaway. The tally was the Morinville native’s second shorty of the year and Red Deer’s fifth this season.

At 15:35, youngster Dallon Mellin extended Red Deer’s lead to 2-0 with his first career WHL goal, and it was 2-0 Rebels after one period of play.

In the second, Chris Douglas continued digging the hole deeper for Kelowna by scoring his 5th at 9:51.

Douglas won a race to the puck with an oncoming James Porter, the Rockets goaltender. The forward poked it by Porter before it popped up in the air just long enough for Douglas to bat into the back of the net.

Three minutes later, captain Reese Johnson earned his 10th, another shorthanded marker for the Rebels, and it was 4-0 through 40 minutes.

Just 49 seconds in the third, while Red Deer worked a powerplay which carried over from the previous period, Jeff de Wit notched his 13th of the campaign.

Alex Morozoff made it 6-0 with his 3rd at 5:45, also a powerplay goal. Carson Sass rounded out the scoring with his 2nd at 14:47.

“Everyone was going, it was good,” said Mellin, whose line was praised by their coach for its hard-working game. “It was an unbelievable pass (on my goal). I think a pylon could’ve scored that.”

Sutter further spoke highly of the Rebels work while on the PK.

“Those two goals were huge. You get those and obviously you get some momentum out of that,” he said. “The important thing was they were early in the penalty kills and then we had to do the job to kill them off, which is equally important.”

Red Deer won the shots battle 34-28 and finished 2/4 on the powerplay. Kelowna finished 0/3 with the man advantage.

The Booster Juice three stars were Ethan Anders, who made 28 saves for the shutout and his 12th win, forward Chris Douglas, who had one goal and one assist and was +3, and Brandon Hagel, who finished with a goal and two assists to up his point total to 33, good enough for 7th in the WHL.

The Rebels are now winners of three straight and are 8-1-0-0 on home ice. Their win Friday comes after a five-game stretch away from home on which they went 4-1.

Red Deer sits second in the Central Division, two points behind Edmonton with four games in hand, and five points ahead of Lethbridge.

Meanwhile, the Rockets have lost four in a row and are fourth in the BC Division.

The Rebels and Rockets do not meet again this season. This was also Red Deer’s first meeting with a BC Division team this season.

Red Deer plays next on Saturday against the Kootenay Ice, whom they are 2-0 against this season. Red Deer won 4-3 in OT on home ice back on Oct. 20, then won 8-5 in Cranbrook eight days later. The broadcast can be heard LIVE on 106.7 The Drive or at 1067thedrive.fm starting with the pre-game show at 6:30. Puck drop is at 7.