Rebels/Hitmen Preview
By Greg Meachem
After the clubs engaged in a neck-and-neck regular-season series, there’s no reason to suggest the first-round playoff set between the Red Deer Rebels and Calgary Hitmen will be dissimilar,
In fact, the Rebels/Hitmen Eastern Conference best-of-seven quarter-final, starting Friday at the Centrium, could very well be the most hotly-contested of the eight WHL opening-round post-season match-ups.
Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter is anticipating a battle.
“This is going to be a good series between two rival teams,” he said Thursday. “It’s going to be a heck of a series, a tight series. I don’t think there are any surprises regarding personnel and how the teams play.”
The Hitmen won four of the seven regular-season head-to-head clashes, with the Rebels emerging victorious in two of the last three meetings.
Red Deer was the slightly hotter team down the stretch, winning eight of their last 10 contests. The Hitmen were triumphant in seven of their final 10.
The Rebels finished second in the Central Division and third in the conference, five points clear of the Hitmen. Red Deer also scored 14 more goals and allowed 14 fewer than Calgary.
So, a toss-up it is, although the Rebels do have the upper hand in scoring depth and have performed closer to expectations over the past few weeks.
“Our last 15 games of the season was, I guess, closer to where we want to play . . . more like we want to play,” said Sutter. “Defensively, we were much better, the details to our game were much better, our work ethic was much better.
“We were playing a less risky game, which is more like playoff-type hockey.”
The Rebels made several moves prior to the Jan. 10 trade deadline, adding some rather significant pieces in high-calibre forwards Jake DeBrusk, Adam Helewka and Luke Philp.
The club was hit-and-miss from game to game as the new players settled in. Consistency, or rather a lack of, was a major problem as the Rebels too often fell short against inferior opponents.
“It takes time when you bring new guys in, especially top-end guys like we did,” said Sutter. “They had to buy into how we have to play and what our identity is.
“It takes time, but those new kids get it now, they understand it. Also, some of the guys who were here before went astray for a bit and now they’re back on board, too.
“That happens when you’re a team that made some moves like we did in late December and in January.”
Clearly, Sutter likes the recent strides his charges have made. The alternative wouldn’t cut it.
“It took time to gel as a team and now we’ve gelled. We’re playing better better, more playoff-type hockey,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I’d rather it be this way than the other way where there’s so much excitement and we’re just rolling along, hit a wall and all of a sudden we’re struggling going into the playoffs.”
The Rebels, as previously noted, are deep up front despite the recent loss of Conner Bleackley.
The Hitmen offence features the likes of Radel Fazleev, Jakob Stukel, Jordy Stallard, Carson Twarynski and Jackson Houck, but doesn’t equal the Rebels’ stable of scorers consisting of DeBrusk, Helewka, Philp, Michael Spacek, Grayson Pawlenchuk, Ivan Nikolishin and Adam Musil.
On the back end, the Hitmen have two all-stars in Jake Bean and Travis Sanheim, who are also big-time offensive contributors, as well as heavyweight Keegan Kanzig. The Rebels answer with top-four blueliners Haydn Fleury, Nelson Nogier, Kayle Doetzel and Colton Bobyk . . . a saw-off.
Both clubs play a physical style and if forward Evan Polei — day-to-day with an upper-body injury — is available tonight, the Rebels certainly won’t take a back seat in that department.
Joining Bleackley on the injury list is netminder Rylan Toth, but Trevor Martin — in Toth’s absence — has proven he can excel as a No. 1 stopper. Neither of the Hitmen goaltenders — Cody Porter nor Nik Amundrud — have show that they are superior to Martin.
“The other thing that has been huge is Marty has been really good for us. Marty has played well and that’s been significant, too,” said Sutter.
“I’ve said all along that he’s a battler and a warrior. With how he (Martin) has played, even if Tother (Toth) came back (from injury) it would be tough to put Tother in.”
Prediction: Rebels in seven.
Photo by Rob Wallator
