Rebels stifle Raiders, finish road trip with 2-2 slate
Rebels 2 Raiders 1
PRINCE ALBERT — Bah Humbug.
The Red Deer Rebels were 67 seconds away from playing the collective role of The Grinch Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
As it turned out, the Prince Albert Raiders finally scored at the 18:53 mark of the third period, allowing the 2,226 fans to litter the ice with stuffed toys in the home team’s Teddy Bear Toss game.
The Rebels, however, were able to spoil the Christmas/charity-themed contest by the hosts, pulling out a 2-1 WHL win.
“This is a tough building to come into and we knew we’d have to match their compete level and the guys did a good job,” said Rebels head coach Derrick Walser.
The Rebels never trailed in the contest, taking a 1-0 lead as Zane Saab scored his first-ever WHL goal 2:03 into the second period, converting a centering pass from Dwayne Jean Jr.
Zane Saab gets his first @TheWHL goal tonight in P.A! pic.twitter.com/9pfCA48ENd
— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) December 10, 2023
“You’re always happy for kids to get their first goal, they always remember that,” said Walser. “The one thing about Saaber is he’s been pretty patient, waiting for his opportunity. It’s always the next man up mentality and he stepped up big for us. That’s great for him.”
With the Rebels on the power play, Talon Brigley doubled their lead in the final minute of the middle period, blowing a one-timer from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Jace Weir.
The Rebels were solid defensively the rest of the way, but finally surrendered a goal when Sloan Stanick buried a chance very late in the contest. The goal allowed for the shower of stuffed toys, but was too little too late for the Raiders.
The Rebels were one-for-four on the power play and killed a lengthy two-man Raiders advantage in the third period. Captain Kai Uchacz was particularly effective on the 1:52 five-on-three disadvantage.
“He was excellent, he and Ollie (Josephson) and Weirsy and (Hunter) Mayo were excellent on (the penalty kill). Egs (Rebels defensive/special teams coach Mike Egener) prepared them very well, how he wants them to play and they executed perfectly tonight.”
The five-on-three marked the only occasion on which the Rebels were short-handed, a testament to their discipline.
“Discipline matters, you’re not taking away physicality just by being smart,” said Walser. “Again, the guys were dialled in, they had real high compete. Kudos to them, they were great, great in that area.”
Rebels netminder Chase Wutzke played a major role in the outcome, earning first star status with a 35-save, extremely under control effort. Wutzke, who robbed Raiders star Ryder Richie with a sensational second period glove stab, has allowed only four goals in his last three starts (wins over Everett, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert) along with a perfect third period relief appearance in Brandon.
“Both of our goalies feed off each other, they push each other hard,” said Walser. “Right now he (Wutzke) is seeing the puck, he’s tracking. We all know he’s a good goalie and the confidence is coming through now.”
The Rebels were set to return home early Sunday following the 2-2 road trip that opened with the loss in Brandon and was followed by a 5-1 win at Moose Jaw, a 4-2 defeat at Saskatoon and Saturday’s victory.
“It was a tough trip,” said Walser. “Every team goes through these and I thought we played three pretty good games. I didn’t like the first one but overall we’re pretty happy with it.”
The Rebels take on the Hitmen Wednesday in Calgary and then host the Swift Current Broncos Thursday and the Regina Pats Saturday at the Peavey Mart Centrium to close out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule.
Coach Walser recaps tonight’s trip ending win in Prince Albert #RDREBELS I #WHL pic.twitter.com/P7CjZAqpUO
— Red Deer Rebels (@Rebelshockey) December 10, 2023
Notable: Following Wutzke’s pick as first star were Stanick and Saab as the second and third selections . . . Max Hildebrand made 27 saves for the Raiders . . . Weir recorded two assists for the Rebels . . . Rebels top-six forwards Kalan Lind (upper body, day-to-day) and Carson Latimer (lower body, indefinite) remain out of the lineup, as does rookie forward Jeramiah Roberts (upper body, day-to-day) . . . The Rebels with their win maintain a five-point lead over Regina for 8th in the Eastern Conference and move within one point of 7th-place Lethbridge. They’re two back of 6th-place Swift Current and now three back of 5th-place Prince Albert with games at-hand on both.
Photos: Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders
