Blades blank Rebels to sweep series
By DANNY RODE
It was a sudden and disappointing finish to the Western Hockey League season for the Red Deer Rebels Wednesday.
The Saskatoon Blades swept their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal with a 7-0 victory over the Rebels before 4,415 fans at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
‘It was sad for all of us,” said Rebels head coach Dave Struch. “For us to go through what we’ve gone through the last six weeks (after he took over from Derrick Walser), for the effort the guys have put in obviously for anything to end when you love the game as much as these guys do it’s an emotional finish.
“Obviously you want and expect more, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Knowing the Rebels were using rookie goaltender Taylor Tabashniuk, with both Rhett Stoesser and Chase Wutzke down with injuries, the Blades stormed out of the gate both not wanting the Rebels to gain any kind of momentum.
It worked as Egor Sidorov scored the first of his three goals – his second straight hat trick – at 3:12 and Rowan Calvert connected on a shorthanded breakaway at 6:11.
The Rebels fought the puck early in the first period as they looked tight.
“Absolutely they were,” admitted Struch. “I think when you want something that bad, especially at the young age, you want things to happen and then things start to bounce the wrong way some of the energy is drawn from you and it’s hard to get that energy back.”
The Blades had no such problem as Sidorov connected on a spin-around backhand to the top corner at 16:48 and Brandon Lisowsky made it 4-0 at 18:48.
The Rebels found their legs in the second period and had the better scoring opportunities but couldn’t solve Blades rookie netminder Evan Gardner, who made 13 of his 26 saves in the middle stanza.
Sidorov completed his hat trick at 2:15 with a between-the-legs shot. Fraser Minten connected at 13:03.
Alexander Suzdalev completed the scoring on the power play at 4:52 of the final period.
While seven goals beat him, Tabashniuk also made several solid saves.
“I thought that was better,” said Struch. “That was a difficult situation for him to come into. At the end yesterday (an 8-5 loss with empty net goal) he got better and I think he did well today.”
On the plus side for the Rebels was their effort, fighting to the final buzzer.
“We didn’t quit, which was the important thing,” added Struch. “We got behind early and it could have been easy for us to let down, but I think we got better as the game wore on.”
The Rebels added 16-year-old Steven Steranka of the U18AAA Regina Pat Canadians, for his first WHL game Wednesday.
The five-foot-eight winger, who had 62 points in 44 games with the Pat Canadians, didn’t look out of place and had several excellent scoring opportunities which were foiled by Gardner.
“He did a great job,” said Struch. “You give a guy an opportunity like that you expect him to take advantage of it and he did just that. He can play at an elite level and I can see a bright future for him.”
Struch hasn’t had a lot of time to sit and reflect on his time with the Rebels since joining the club at the start of March.
“It’s been six weeks for me and I’m a very emotional person and I take a lot of pride in what I do and for the guys to work as hard as they did for us was the most important thing to take away for me as a coach, as a person, as a father, as a mentor, as a leader … it was really special for me and I can’t thank the guys enough.
Struch took over coaching duties on an interim basis and will meet with Rebels Owner, President and General Manager Brent Sutter to discuss his future with the club.
“Absolutely I’d love to come back,” he said. “It’s a great place to be and as I said, my time with this group of kids, right from the young guys who came in at the end to the 20-year-olds who will be moving out, their response to a very difficult situation was fantastic. They made me feel comfortable. They worked real hard for me, for us as a coaching staff, and we saw them all develop. I hope things turn out well.”
Meantime, the Blades advance to the WHL Eastern Conference Championship for the second year in a row. They will take on either Moose Jaw or Swift Current (Warriors lead their semifinal series 3-1).
ICE CHIPS – Sidorov, who had two assists to go with his hat trick, was the first star for the second-straight game while Gardner was second star and Lisowsky, who had a goal and two helpers, was third star … Tabashniuk finished with 24 saves … One thing the Rebels did do was a good job in the faceoff circle as Kai Uchacz won 11 of 13 and Ollie Josephson 10 of 13 … Uchacz, Carson Latimer, and Elias Carmichael – the three Rebels overage players this season – saw their WHL careers come to an end with the loss … The Rebels will hold their year-end exit meetings and final farewells for the season on Friday.