Rebels dig one hole too many in home loss to Blades
RED DEER – The Red Deer Rebels battled back to erase three separate Saskatoon Blades Saturday night, but a fourth proved to be too much, albeit by the slimmest of margins.
The Rebels dropped a 6-5 loss to the Blades at the Marchant Crane Centrium in front of season-high crowd of 4,736.
Jaxon Fuder racked up four points, including his first career hat trick, while Samuel Drancak ran his goal streak to seven games.
With the loss, the Rebels fall to 7-11-1-2, while the Blades improved to 13-8-2-0.
“They were way quicker than us early in the game. They beat us to pucks, and were just quicker than us. And then as the game got on, you know, there were spurts, we hung in there, and that’s what I liked.”
Stats Story
Jaxon Fuder (RD) – 3 goals, 1 assist
Cooper Williams (SASK) – 2 goals, 1 assist
Samuel Drancak (RD) – 1 goal, 1 assist
How it Happened
Cooper Williams opened early in the first period when he pounced on a loose puck and put it past Rebels netminder Matthew Kondro.
The Rebels answered when Jaxon Fuder sent Samuel Drancak up the neutral zone, where he crossed the Blades blue line and ripped home his seventh goal in seven games past Evan Gardner.
DRANCAK GETTING THE JOB DONE🚨@Rebelshockey pic.twitter.com/1cOYkTA7Xi
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) November 16, 2025
Saskatoon regained the lead on the powerplay as Williams snapped a low one-timer for his second of the night.
On a Rebels man-advantage, Fuder took a slick feed from Drancak at the side the net and buried the back-door equalizer to tie things up again.
THE FUDE-SHOW👏
Jaxon Fuder's 5th goal of the season, and its on the power play!🚨@Rebelshockey | @DallasStars pic.twitter.com/mNZYSCjnS9
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) November 16, 2025
Offence slowed in the second as the only goal would come from Rowan Calvert who nudged the Blades ahead when he cleaned up a power play rebound to make it 3-2.
In the final frame, Dominik Petr took a cross-ice feed and fired home a one-timer from the bottom of the circle for a 4-2 Blades lead.
The Rebels pushed on as Beckett Hamilton drove the net and opened space by spinning into a flashy spin-a-rama past Gardiner to extend his point streak to six games.
OKAY SPIN-O-RAMA😵💫
Beckett Hamilton is on FIRE tonight.🔥@Rebelshockey | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/WccQXo3eLo
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) November 16, 2025
Momentum continued to swing Red Deer’s way as Fuder locked things up again, putting home his second of the night from tight to the post.
But Saskatoon pulled back ahead as Williams found Hunter Laing at the bottom of the circle for another one-timer, giving the Blades their third lead of the game with their third power play goal on the night.
Not long after a shot from Kazden Mathies bounced off of Kondro before hitting a Rebels defender and going in for a 6-4 lead.
Less than a minute later, Matus Lisy threaded a picture-perfect pass to Fuder who hammered home his hat trick goal to bring the Rebels back within one.
JAXON FUDER, FOR THE THIRD TIME TONIGHT!⭐️
🧢🧢🧢@Rebelshockey | @DallasStars pic.twitter.com/lWQ60xoo93
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) November 16, 2025
The Rebels thought they’d tied the game when Talon Brigley appeared to tap the puck across the goal line during a scramble. Unfortunately, a lengthy video review did not go Red Deer’s way and the game would end in a 6-5 Blades win.
“They looked at it upstairs from our vantage point, from from the bench (looking) up on the score clock, it looked in to us. But obviously they saw it different,” Habscheid said after the game. “They didn’t think it crossed the line. They’re the ones that make the call.”
Saskatoon outshot Red Deer 33-23 and was 3-for-4 on the power play while the Rebels were 2-for-3.
Brandt Three Stars
1. Cooper Williams (SAS)
2. Jaxon Fuder (RD)
3. Dominik Petr (SAS)
Notes
Rebels centre Matthew Gard served his last game of a five-game suspension … scratches for the game were defenceman Nikolas Ferry and forward Noah Milford … Drancak is the first Rebels to score in seven-straight games since Arshdeep Bains did it twice during the 2021-22 season.
Next up
The division rivalry continues between the Medicine Hat Tigers and Red Deer Rebels on Friday, November 15 as the Tigers roll into the Marchant Crane Centrium for a 7 p.m. puck drop (TICKETS).
