Rebels Hold On

For the second time in as many games, the Rebels welcomed a team with a 7-2 record to the Enmax Centrium.  The Kamloops Blazers high flying offense versus the Rebels iron clad defense made for a great matchup on paper, and that’s exactly what fans got.The Rebs opened the scoring early in the first period.  Colton Mayor put home his third of the season, a powerplay goal, with Alex Petrovic and Mathew Dumba earning the assists, at 2:45 of the 1st.  Red Deer leads 1-0.That lead lasted barely five minutes as the Blazers tied it up at 7:49.  Brendan Ranford continued his strong start to the WHL season by scoring his 7th of the year.  JT Barnett and Tyler Hansen with the assists.  1-1 after 20 minutes.  Shots 14-10 in favour of Kamloops.

The Blazers took a 2-1 lead in the second period when JT Barnett came out of the penalty box, corralled the loose puck, and beat Patrik Bartosak with a beautiful move to make it 2-1 Kamloops.  The shorthanded goal came at 6:54.  That would be the only goal of the second period.  Blazers led on the shot clock 21-18.

In the third period, the Rebels would capitalize on their two best scoring chances to score two important goals.  Tyson Ness caused a Blazers turnover at the Rebels blue line then went in and scored on the ensuing breakaway at 4:09.  Tyson’s 3rd goal of the year was unassisted.  Then, just 24 seconds later, Chad Robinson banks it in off of a Blazers defender to give the Rebels a lead they would not relinquish.  The unassisted goal at 4:33 put the Rebels ahead 3-2.  Patrik Bartosak shut the door the rest of the way, making 11 third period saves, before Turner Elson dug the puck loose and went in for an empty net unassisted goal at 19:19.  Rebels win 4-2.  Final shots on goal were 32-25 for Kamloops.

Molson Cup Three Stars – 1. Ness RD  2. Barnett KB  3. Bartosak RDNext up… the Rebels host the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night at the Enmax Centrium at 7:30pm.