Red Deer Rebels 4-5 Seattle Thunderbirds (S/O)
Although it is way to early to say the season was on the line for the Red Deer Rebels (4-7-0-1), it was still paramount to get on the right track with a win at home against the Seattle Thunderbirds (3-4-2-1), after being handed five losses in a row.
Coming off a 4-3 loss at home against Lethbridge that saw Zak Smith score a pair of goals, the Rebels were facing a team on the other end that was on a three-game win streak and has points in their last four.
The Rebels would battle hard in this one, but would ultimately drop another game — this time a 5-4 shooutout loss
The Rebels would get off on the right foot after Ethan Sakowich wired one home for his third of the year, but Seattle’s Payton Mount would quickly answer back with his second of the year — tying it at 1-1 heading into the second period.
It looked like Red Deer would take an advantage into the third period after Christopher Sedoff scored his first WHL goal, but Thunderbird Andrej Kukuca would dash those plans with a goal of his own with 20 seconds left in the 2nd period — tying the game at two.
“The first half the game, I thought we were in really good shape. I thought we were playing well and then we took three minor penalties. We lost momentum off that,” Coach Brent Sutter said.
It looked like Seattle was going to blow this game wide open after Luke Bateman and Henrik Rybinski both scored on Rebel miscalculations, but Smith would be the hero of the third period — scoring two more goals and tying it up, pushing the game to overtime.
“In the third period, we made some bad line changes and some defensive zone lapses,” Sutter said.
Five minutes of three-on-three wasn’t enough to beak the tie, meaning this one went to a shootout.
Anders would stop the first two shots of the shootout, but was unable to handle Simon Kubicek drive. Smith would have the final shot for Red Deer, but was unable to beat Roddy Ross, leading to a 5-4 Seattle final.
Ross stopped 32 shots for the win, while Anders stopped 36 shots in the loss.
The Rebels now head out on the road for a six-game road trip while the Canadian Finals Rodeo takes over the Centrium. The Rebels will return home on Nov. 15 to take on the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“Hopefully we learn from it and be ready for next weekend and a long road trip,” Sutter said.
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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