Rebels battle hard but fall to Lethbridge in overtime
Hurricanes 3 Rebels 2 (OT)
Red Deer Rebels head coach Dave Struch had kind words for both teams Saturday at the Peavey Mart Centrium where the Lethbridge Hurricanes won 3-2 in overtime.
The Rebels allowed a tying goal with 1:55 remaining in the third period as Miguel Marques banked the puck off netminder Rhett Stoesser and in, then the ‘Canes prevailed in the extra frame when Noah Chadwick converted a goalmouth feed from Logan Wormald.
“I think they did a good job, you have to give them some credit,” said Struch.
As for his team . . . .
“I thought overall it was our best game since I’ve been here,” said Struch. “Everything we’ve worked on in practice and everything we’ve learned from the games we’ve played . . . we took a big step forward even in a losing cause.
“There are things we can learn from, obviously, but overall I thought the effort was fantastic.”
The Rebels were minus six players, including second pairing defenceman Matteo Fabrizi and 20-goal forward Frantisek Formanek, but Struch wasn’t making any alibis.
“You can say (the Rebels were short-handed) but we’re going to give our guys a lot of credit for the effort they turned in,” said Struch. “There were some breakdowns but we recovered for the most part.”
Following a scoreless first period in which Red Deer carried the play, Samuel Drancak scored his 11th of the season at 7:22 of the second frame. Kalan Lind attempted a wrap around and Drancak chipped the puck past goaltender Brody Smith.
The visitors pulled even just over a minute later as Will Sharpe buried a long rebound, but Matthew Gard restored Red Deer’s lead later in the period, skating over the blueline and from the top of the right circle beating Smith high to the glove side.
The Rebels, however, couldn’t hang on in the late going.
“We had a lot of scoring opportunities that we missed, their goalie was good tonight,” said Struch. “No excuses, you win some and you lose some. It’s how you react that’s important.”
“I thought we had a pretty solid game tonight,” said captain Kai Uchacz, admitting that the team might have looked tired with so many bodies missing.
“That’s not the result we wanted. They were more desperate at the end. Those guys were fighting for something, I believe they clinched a playoff spot,” he said. “Fatigue kicked in a bit at the end.
“Down the stretch and into the playoffs we have to figure out a way to stay disciplined when we have the lead in the third, especially at the end.”
Uchacz was honoured prior to the game with Red Deer’s Red Deer Advocate Male Athlete of the Year, something that took him by surprise.
“I didn’t’ expect that or even know it was coming,” he said. “It’s definitely a good honour, I’m pretty happy.
“But now it’s back to hockey and we have to figure out a way to get back in the win column on the road.”
The Rebels are in Swift Current Wednesday and put the wraps on their regular season schedule with a two game set with the Edmonton Oil Kings, Saturday at the Peavey Mart Centrium and Sunday in the provincial capital.
Notable: The three stars: (1) Chadwick, (2) Smith, who made 30 saves and was the ‘Canes’ best player through two periods, and (3) Rebels defenceman Derek Thurston . . . Stoesser also stopped 30 shots . . . Lind picked up a pair of assists . . . The Rebels were zero-for-two on the power play, the visitors zero-for-three . . . . Attendance was 5,741.
(Photos by Taylor Lachance)
