Rebels drop overtime decision in Medicine Hat
Tigers 3 Rebels 2 (OT)
MEDICINE HAT — If nothing else, the Red Deer Rebels picked up a point Tuesday at Co-op Place.
A point, in the strong opinion of head coach Derrick Walser, they didn’t deserve.
“We stole a point tonight, as simple as that,” said Walser, following a 3-2 WHL overtime loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“I didn’t like our game from after the six minute mark of the first period right to the end of overtime.
“Too many turnovers, too many mistakes, too many small detail things that we hadn’t been doing that we did tonight.”
The game was on the verge of going to a shootout when Oasiz Wiesblatt notched his second goal of the game on a power play with 7.3 seconds remaining in extra time, beating netminder Chase Wutzke to the short side from deep in the left circle.
The visitors opened the scoring late in the first period as Matthew Gard potted his fifth of the season, converting a rebound of a shot by linemate Jeramiah Roberts.
The Tigers answered back roughly 90 seconds later with Gavin McKenna burying a centering pass from Wiesblatt, then assumed a 2-1 lead on the power play at 11:34 of the second period as Wiesblatt fired a shot from the high slot that found its way past a screened Wutzke.
The Rebels struggled during a lengthy power play of their own earlier in the period, failing to create a scoring chance with Bogdans Hodass in the Tigers dressing room after being tagged with a high sticking major and game misconduct.
But Red Deer took advantage of their third man advantage opportunity of the contest when defenceman Hunter Mayo connected with a wrist shot from the blueline early in the third period.
Wutzke was solid the entire game, making a great glove save on Hodass in the opening period and denying Tyler MacKenzie back-to-back in the third.
At the other end, Ethan McCallum stopped Frantisek Formanek on a late third period breakaway.
Both goalies finished with 27 saves, with Wutzke also denying Wiesblatt on an overtime breakaway.
“We had a chance to win it with the late breakaway and then he (Wutzke) made a huge save in overtime,” said Walser. “He was excellent. Without good goaltending it’s not 2-2.”
The Rebels have yet to beat the Tigers this season although all three meetings have been close, including last Wednesday’s 4-2 setback at the Peavey Mart Centrium, an outcome that didn’t seem fair.
“We lost that one but we felt comfortable with our game,” said Walser, whose charges held nearly a two-to-one advantage in shots in their first game back after the Christmas break.
“But tonight I didn’t like our game, I didn’t like our effort . . . too many mistakes. We’ve gone through a stretch of playing real good hockey and tonight it just wasn’t the same team.
“We have to bury it. We got a point when we may not have deserved any. We’ll take it and move forward and try and get them on Friday.”
The Rebels bench boss was referring to the next game on Red Deer’s schedule, a return visit by the Tigers.
Coach Walser after tonight’s OT setback in Medicine Hat #RDREBELS | #WHL pic.twitter.com/djRy4EOHt5
— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) January 3, 2024
Notable: The Rebels were without forward Kalan Lind, who sat out with an illness . . . The three stars: (1) Wiesblatt, (2) Wutzke and (3) McCallum . . . The Rebels dominated in the faceoff circles, winning 42 of 61 draws.
(Photos by Randy Feere/Medicine Hat Tigers)
