Rebels erupt for seven in convincing home-ice win over Hurricanes
Rebels 7 Hurricanes 3
Sometimes you’ve just gotta hit reset.
One day after a meeting that involved the players, coaching staff and general manager Brent Sutter, the Red Deer Rebels turned in a noteworthy performance in a 7-3 WHL win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes Monday at the Peavey Mart Centrium.
Spurred on by a near overflow throng of 6,904 on Family Day afternoon, the Rebels rifled four goals in the second period to pull away from the visitors en route to the resounding victory.
It was a complete night-and-day for the Rebels in comparison to their two previous outings, back-to-back 3-1 losses Friday and Saturday to the Edmonton Oil Kings, the last place team in the Eastern Conference.
“A much needed win,” said Rebels captain Kai Uchacz, who led the way with his third hat trick of the season. “We really needed that one to kind of reset, restart to get us going for the rest of the season.
“We came in yesterday and kind of had a real good heart to heart with Brent. “It kind of let us take our mind away from the rink for a day and it showed today.
“We came out and it was a full team effort.”
The Hurricanes opened the scoring just 4:12 into the contest. Chase Wutzke made a save on Brayden Edwards but the puck laid loose in the crease and Logan Wormald poked it over the line.
The score held until the final minute of the period when Frantisek Formanek, with his first of two goals, cashed a rebound.
The Rebels took over from there, grabbing a permanent lead early in the middle period as Uchacz broke to the net and converted a pass by Formanek from the corner boards.
The goal was the captain’s 100th of his Rebels career.
“It was kind of cool to hit that mark,” said Uchacz, who became the fifth player in franchise history to score at least 100.
Uchacz struck again less than two minutes later, beating netminder Harrison Meneghin with a laser from the left circle for a power play tally.
Hurricanes forward Kooper Gizowski notched his first of two goals on the afternoon shortly after when he took a pass from Carter Dereniwsky from along the half-boards and beat Wutzke with a quick release from the low slot.
But Formanek restored Red Deer’s two-goal cushion late in the period when he fired home a centering pass from Uchacz, and rookie Zane Saab added to the lead with his fourth of the season, skating along the goal line and jamming the puck past Meneghin.
All along, the large crowd voiced their pleasure.
“Any time you can play in front of that many people, a full barn like that, it’s pretty awesome,” said Uchacz.
The Rebels didn’t do themselves any favours early in the third period, taking two penalties in the first two minutes to give the ‘Canes a chance to get back into the game.
Instead, Ollie Josephson potted a short-handed marker, picking the pocket of Lethbridge’s Miguel Marques at the Red Deer blueline, breaking down the left side, fighting off Marques before putting the puck home in the short-side top corner.
The visitors responded with a power play goal from Gizowski less than a minute later, but the Rebels would close out the scoring when Uchacz spun around and connected from the low slot.
His output boosted his season total to 38, giving him at least an outside shot at reaching the 50-goal mark, which Uchacz accomplished last season.
“It’ll try to get into the 40s and see what I can do down the stretch,” he said. “Obviously I’ll try and score as many goals as I can and just try to do everything I can each night to help the team win.
“Right now for us it’s about building off today. That’s one win for us and we have to get ready for the next game and start getting on a roll here.”
Rebels head coach Derrick Walser, like Uchacz, credited Sunday’s meeting with energizing his troops.
“We had a good mental break yesterday,” he said. “You could see the energy in the guys. They were back on their toes and coming in today with a big crowd like this . . . it really gave us a push when we really needed it.”
The Red Deer bench boss also liked his team’s play down low, in and around the Lethbridge net.
“We stayed in front of the net a lot better (than was the case in the losses to Edmonton),” he stated. “And we did a much better job of staying above the puck when the puck was going to the net and staying in those dirty areas.”
Notable: Wutzke made 20 saves, including a handful of beauties, while posting his 17th win of the season, while Meneghin stopped 24 of 29 shots before being replaced by Smith to start the third period. Smith gave up two goal on 12 shots . . . The Rebels were one-for-four on the power play, the Hurricanes one-for-six . . . Uchacz, with four points, was selected as the game’s first star, followed by Formanek, who recorded three points, and Saab . . . The Rebels are idle until Saturday when they’ll host the Wenatchee Wild.
(Photos by Taylor Lachance)
