Rebels drop home opener to Oil Kings
The Rebels kicked off the 2025-26 WHL Regular Season at the Marchant Crane Centrium, hosting the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night.
Edmonton scored early and held on late in the third for a 4-2 victory in front of over 4,000 fans.
It was a rough first 40 minutes for the Rebels as the Oil Kings built up a four-goal lead before holding off a third period Rebels push.
“The first game is always interesting, especially for a lot of our players, it’s their first games, and sometimes they try too hard, or, you know, they’re trying to do things they’re not used to, and then mistakes happen,” said Rebels head coach Marc Habscheid.
“You just got to stay with it. But I think with with the group, it was a learning experience for sure.”
Stats Story:
Luke Powell (EDM) – Two goals, game winner
Keith McInnis (RD) – First WHL goal (power play)
Ethan Simcoe (EDM) – 18 saves, win
How It Happened:
Edmonton struck first early as Luke Powell beat Rebels netminder Peyton Shore 1:22 into period one.
Dylan Dean doubled the Oil Kings’ lead to 2-0 about five minutes later with a power play tally for his first WHL goal.
Powell added his second goal of the game three minutes into the second frame as he snapped a shot from the faceoff circle past Shore.
Edmonton struck again at the 5:24 mark of the second, as Presley Kerner scored his first career goal with a snapshot from the slot.
The Rebels got things going in the third period as Red Deer native Keith McInnis scored his first WHL goal on a powerplay at the 12:33, as he fired home a rocket from the point.
“It was pretty special,” McInnis said. “We needed something to get going, and you know, luckily that went in for us. It was nice to do it in front of the friends and family, but hopefully many more to come.”
Less than two minutes later, Noah Milford scored his first of the season to cut the deficit to two, as he stole the puck in the corner and then tucked the wraparound past Oil Kings goaltender Ethan Simcoe.
Unfortunately, that is where the Rebels’ comeback bid would end, as the Oil Kings shut the door late as the Rebels piled on the pressure.
Edmonton outshot Red Deer 26-18 and was 1-for-4 on the power play while the Rebels were 1-for-3.
“I think you can tell it was the first game we were disjointed for two periods,” Habscheid added. “I just didn’t think we were together. That was our last two games, we played together, and I just thought in the first two periods we didn’t. There was a lot of little things that we could have done better.”
Marc Habscheid
Keith McInnis
Three Stars:
1. Luke Powell (EDM)
2. Keith McInnis (RD)
3. Presley Kerner (EDM)
Next up:
The Rebels head north to complete the home-and-home series with the Oil Kings. Puck drop at Rogers Place goes at 4 p.m. on Victory+ and 106.7 Rewind Radio.
(Xander Holcomb)
