By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Rebels go the distance with Pats to earn two points

Dec 7, 2018 | 10:52 PM

Even against a team that’s lost far more than it’s won this season, Friday night’s tilt was anything but a guaranteed win for the Red Deer Rebels.

But somehow, they pulled it out — barely — winning 4-3 in dramatic comeback fashion against the visiting Regina Pats.

Red Deer and Regina hadn’t met since Dec. 1 of last year, meaning their latest match-up was the first of four this season. Coming in, Red Deer had lost five of their last six overall, and three of their previous four at home.

Regina was losers of nine of their last 10 overall and held a record of 8-21-0-0.

Naturally, the teams had a feeling out process going on early, but as things opened up, the intensity increased leading to a spirited scrap near centre ice between 19-year-old Ethan Sakowich and 16-year-old rookie Cole Dubinsky. The latter was left with a cut above his eye.

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Brandon Hagel – who else – got the scoring going, but it didn’t come until late with just 1:34 remaining. For the Morinville, AB native, it was his team-leading 19th goal of the season, and his 47th point, which is good for 6th in the WHL.

It was 1-0 after 20 minutes.

In the second, Regina struck quickly, the returning Austin Pratt notching his 12th of the season just 42 seconds in. Pratt, who was traded to Regina from Red Deer last January, leads the Pats in points.

At 13:39 of the second period, the Pats earned their first lead of the night, Sergei Alkhimov getting his 6th, and it was 2-1 for the visitors through two.

Once again in the third, Regina came out with pace, extending their lead to 3-1 just 1:12 in.

This time it was Scott Mahovlich potting his 4th of the season, and the Rebels were in dire need of pushback.

They got it in the form of a goal at 11:49 from Cameron Hausinger, who was making his re-debut in a Rebels sweater after being traded to Red Deer by Kootenay last Friday. The tally was the 9th for the Anchorage-born forward who played 41 games for Red Deer during the 2016-17 season.

Red Deer wasn’t done there as they found the equalizer at 17:07, Alex Morozoff netting his 5th, and this game was headed to overtime.

In OT, there were chances at both ends, but both Ethan Anders and Max Paddock stood tall in their respective nets.

On to the shootout where Ethan Anders shone stopping all three shots he faced. But it was Brett Davis – the Rebels’ second shooter – who backhanded it niftily over Paddock’s pad to score the only goal of the shootout and secure the extra point for Red Deer.

Brandon Hagel was named third star, Austin Pratt earned second star honours, and Cameron Hausinger had a first star performance that he said post-game he won’t soon forget.

“I thought we stuck with our game,” said Hausinger. “That goal (his) let us break them down a little bit, and if you look closely, I was going to go line up on the wing side, but Saks (Sakowich) said go line up on his D side. I shot it, closed my eyes, and hoped it went in.”

Meanwhile, Head Coach Brent Sutter called the win a learning experience.

“We certainly found a way to win, but give full marks to the Pats because they work extremely hard and keep the game simple,” Sutter said. “We went through all that through the day today about the team we’re playing and their work ethic. And we said there were some things in our game we could simplify.

“We’ll just keep getting better, it’s a long year.”

Anders stopped 25 of 28 shots, including five in the third period and one in overtime to improve his record to 16-5-2. His win count is third best in the WHL. Red Deer outshot Regina 35-28.

Next up for the Red Deer Rebels is a date with the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday night for the second game of a season-long six-game homestand. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. and the broadcast can be heard LIVE on 106.7 The Drive starting with the pre-game show at 6:30.