Rebels drop game one in Saskatoon
By DANNY RODE
SASKATOON, SK – The Red Deer Rebels didn’t get off to the start they wanted in their best-of-seven WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal against the Saskatoon Blades.
The Blades, who finished on top of the WHL this season with 105 points, broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals in the second period to eventually take a 4-1 victory before 8,355 fans at SaskTel Centre Friday.
“It was a matter of each team feeling each other out,” said Rebels head coach Dave Struch. “Our intensity has to pick up for sure on Sunday.
“We got the opportunities to score some goals, but we need more traffic to the net and also need to get pucks to where we can get pucks to the net and we didn’t do a good enough job of that tonight.
Struch added, “They have a good team, and they took advantage of their scoring opportunities, and we didn’t.”
The Rebels finished with just 17 shots on goal, but still had a couple glorious opportunities in the middle stanza when Frantisek Formanek hit the crossbar and Carson Latimer rung a shot off the post.
What turned out to be the winning goal by Vaughn Watterodt was a bit fortunate when Fraser Minten threw the puck into the crease and as Jhett Larson dove to knock it away he slid into Red Deer goaltender Chase Wutzke, allowing Watterodt to slide the puck into an open net.
The goal came at 8:59, just 3:30 after Carson Birnie had tied the game for the Rebels, converting on a rebound.
Minten gave the Blades a 3-1 lead as he one-timed a shot from the right circle under the bar while on the power play at 13:02 of the middle stanza.
Struch wasn’t about to look at the second period as unlucky.
“It shouldn’t come to that,” he said. “When you’re in the second round of the playoffs the intensity has to be higher to have any type of success and we expect our group to be that much more intense and relentless on Sunday.”
Minten, who opened the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs before returning to Kamloops briefly before being traded to the Blades, opened the scoring at 8:32 of the first period when the puck hit his stick, hit the post and deflected in behind Wutzke.
Brandon Lisowsky tucked the puck into an empty net at 19:11 of the third period to round out the scoring on the night.
The Blades certainly have a more experienced team, including on the blueline, than the Medicine Hat Tigers, who the Rebels defeated 4-1 in the opening round of the playoffs.
“They can make some plays for sure. They are older and experience helps them along the way,” added Struch. “But we have some guys who have playoff experience as well and they went through that situation they went through last year that we can grow from and learn from.”
Coach Struch after tonight’s setback in Saskatoon pic.twitter.com/krvejKT0Q4
— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) April 13, 2024
ICE CHIPS – Wutzke finished with 20 saves … Taylor Tabashniuk, who played this season for the Regina Pat Canadians U18 AAA, dressed as Wutzke’s backup after Rhett Stoesser was injured this week in practice … Evan Gardner made 16 saves in the Saskatoon net and was named the game’s third star … Minten, who had two goals, one assist and won 18 of 24 faceoffs, was the first star and Watterodt the second … Kai Uchacz, who won more faceoffs than anyone in the WHL this season, won 10 of 15 faceoffs for the Rebels … Olds product Charlie Wright had an assist for the Blades and had points in all six of their playoff games this season … In the other Eastern Conference semifinal, the Swift Current Broncos whipped the Moose Jaw Warriors 7-2 … The second game of the Rebels/Blades series goes Sunday at 4 p.m. in Saskatoon … They return to Red Deer for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday … Fans can get tickets at ticketsalberta.com.
