Wednesday Night in the Dub Preview: Rebels try to dish Eastern Conference-leading Blades a rare home loss

After hitting 50 wins for the first time in 13 years and clinching the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as WHL regular season champions, the Saskatoon Blades entered 2024-25 with a new-look roster, a new head coach, and considerably lower expectations.

But that hasn’t slowed them down at all.

The Blades have continued to lead the Eastern Conference and boast wins in seven of their last 10 games entering today’s Wednesday Night in the Dub matchup.

Saskatoon is 11-0-1-0 at the SaskTel Centre this season and hope their home advantage will continue into the upcoming winter break.

Meanwhile, the Red Deer Rebels are rebounding after a troublesome U.S. Division road trip that saw them slide down the Central Division standings.

Top Rebels NHL Draft-eligible forward Matthew Gard isn’t rattled, though, and is proud of the team’s 4-0-1-0 run since returning north of the border.

Both teams are powered by NHL-drafted goaltenders and rank among the stingiest squads in the league.

Blades star Evan Gardner (Columbus Blue Jackets) is fresh off of winning WHL Goaltender of the Month for November and currently holds a 13-5-1-0 record with one shutout so far in his sophomore season.

His .916 save percentage leads all qualified WHL goaltenders while his 2.55 goals-against average ranks second.

At the other end of the ice, Chase Wutzke (Minnesota Wild) has been solid with an increased workload, sporting a 10-8-0-1 record in his first full season as a starter.

He sports a 3.19 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage while facing the fifth-most shots of any goaltender in the WHL- including a 41-save effort in a 4-2 win over Prince Albert on Tuesday.

There’s also plenty of bad blood between these squads after Saskatoon unceremoniously swept a banged-up Rebels squad in the second round of the 2024 WHL Playoffs.

Red Deer eked out a 2-1 win in the first regular season rematch since the postseason matchup, but players say the rivalry is still stewing.

Nashville Predators prospects Kalan Lind and Tanner Molendyk are also set to square off against each other.

Lind posted a pair of assists in Tuesday’s victory in his return to the Rebels lineup, while Molendyk is fresh off of earning an invitation to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp in hopes of repping the Maple Leafs at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The smooth-skating blueliner had made the team last year before sustaining an upper-body injury in pre-tournament play, but he’s back with a vengeance.

Puck drops at the SaskTel Centre at 7:00 p.m. ST.

All Wednesday Night in the Dub featured games will be free to stream on WHL Live and the WHL’s YouTube Channel.

STAT PACK

	Red Deer Rebels	Saskatoon Blades
Record	13-10-1-2 (3rd Central)	17-6-1-1 (1st East)
Leading Scorers	Ollie Josephson (7G, 10A, 17PTS) Matthew Gard (7G, 10A, 17PTS) Hunter Mayo (9G, 7A, 16PTS)	Ben Riche (15G, 20A, 35PTS) Rowan Calvert (12G, 14A, 26PTS) Brandon Lisowsky (12G, 12A, 24PTS)
Leading Goaltender	Chase Wutzke (10-8-0-1, 3.19GAA, .904 save percentage)	Evan Gardner (13-5-1-0, 2.55GAA, .917 save percentage, one shutout)
Powerplay	14.8% (22nd)	24.7% (6th)
Penalty Kill	74.6% (15th)	77.8% (10th)

 

NHL PROSPECTS

Red Deer Rebels

F- Ollie Josephson (Seattle Kraken)

F- Kalan Lind (Nashville Predators)

F- Kasper Pikkarainen (New Jersey Devils)

G- Chase Wutzke (Minnesota Wild)

Saskatoon Blades

F- Brandon Lisowsky (Toronto Maple Leafs)

D- Tanner Molendyk (Nashville Predators)

G- Evan Gardner (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Top 2025 NHL Draft Eligibles (per NHL Central Scouting)

Red Deer Rebels

F- Matthew Gard (B)

D- Luke Vlooswyk (C)

Saskatoon Blades

F- William James (W)

F- David Lewandowski (W)

SOUND OFF

Matthew Gard

On bouncing back after a tough U.S. Division road trip:

I think we all bought in and committed to that we were going to win those, we were going to try and win every next game and find the inside and score more goals and be the better team in those games.

On the Rebels’ team identity:

We’re a hard-working team that’s going to find the inside and stick to our identity that’s playing hard, finishing hits and then producing when we can.

On beating Saskatoon in their first meeting post-playoffs:

It felt good to push back at them and grow our rivalry with them for sure…Oh no. It has not been put to rest yet. There’s still extra motivation to beat those guys, for sure.

On the challenge of facing Saskatoon:

They have a lot of high, highly skilled, offensive, talented guys, and hopefully, we can go shut those guys down.

On earned a ‘B’ rating in NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary player list ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft:

It’s a pretty cool thing to see, but just means I’ve got to keep working and keep building towards my goal at the end of the year.

Tanner Molendyk

On Saskatoon coming into the season as an underdog:

We have a lot of 16-year-olds, and I think our leadership group has been unreal with those guys. I mean, obviously they know what they’re doing. They’re great hockey players and they’re going to be going to be good players in this league for a long time. It’s just they already know how to win those one-goal games. I think we had, I don’t know what it was,  like 12 in a row of just winning by one.

 On the challenge of facing Red Deer:

They’re always big and like to run around, but they play a well-structured game. They’re hard to hard to pick apart. I think just the way they play is really hard to come by. You don’t really see that much structure in games anymore.

On being undefeated in regulation time at SaskTel Centre:

Definitely our crowd. I mean, our crowds are crazy. They get going sometimes… Friday or whatever it was, it was absolutely jam-packed in there. It was a barn burner. It’s a huge energy boost.

On being the last cut from Nashville Predators camp:

I think getting to stay there for a little longer you get to see how they prepare for the regular season and all that kind of stuff… How they take care of their bodies, how they do stuff away from the rink, and all that kind of stuff. At the rink,  you guys watch guys like Josi and  Forsberg, those guys are mutants. You don’t see guys like that every day. It’s kind of just almost being a sponge kind of thing. You find yourself fanboying half the time, but yeah, I think it’s just kind of taking it all in.

On what he hopes to bring to Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp:

I think it’s just my two-way game. I think it’s going to be a lot about my skating and puck-moving, but I think just how I can contribute on both sides of the ice. I think that’s gonna be huge. I mean, it’s a lot of good teams coming from across the world, so, I mean, it’s good to be able to shut top guys down and kind of be that guy.