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Red Deer Rebels

Rebels Captain Well Aware That Intensity Reaches a New Level in Playoffs

March 21, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


Red Deer Rebels fifth-year forward Grayson Pawlenchuk harbours some words of wisdom as the club prepares for a first-round WHL playoff engagement with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Rebels captain has two previous post-seasons under his belt and has a message for the team's first-year players heading into the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final starting Friday at Lethbridge.

"Every game is big . . . literally every second of every game," Pawlenchuk said Wednesday, just one day short of his 21st birthday. "Every play you make can have a positive or negative result in the game.

"You have to stay focused throughout the whole game, you can't get away from your game or off your game. You have to stay with it the whole time no matter what and never give up."

Pawlenchuk was a member of the Rebels team that lost a playoff qualifying tie-breaker to Prince Albert in 2014. He competed in the playoffs each of the next two seasons and although he missed the Rebels lone post-season series in 2017, he's played enough spring hockey to realize how much more heated games tend to be at this time of the year.

"Every game is a lot more intense. There's a lot more energy and the games seems to be a lot faster-paced too," he stated. "Teams are kind of fighting for their lives in the series so everyone is going as hard as they can."

The Rebels didn't close out their regular-season schedule on a positive note, dropping both ends of a home-and-away series to the non-playoff bound Kootenay Ice.

The team didn't have a lot of jump in a 6-2 loss at the Centrium and with their top three scorers left at home for the rematch in Cranbrook, were simply out-manned in a 5-0 setback.

Following Saturday's regular-season ending defeat, general manager/head coach Brent Sutter was of the opinion that his crew eased off the throttle a bit after clinching a post-season berth the previous weekend and then defeating the visiting Hurricanes last Wednesday.

Pawlenchuk didn't disagree entirely with that notion.

"I guess that was the case, a bit," he said. "The last two games weren't exactly the games we wanted. We had a pretty young lineup the last one but still didn't play the way we wanted to."

However, as he noted . . .

"Before those two games we built more towards how we want to play in playoffs. After a good week of practices here we'll be ready to go for playoffs and play how we were before those last two games."

After a miserable first half of the regular season, the Rebels were a winning team over the final two months and on March 9 posted a 4-1 win at Lethbridge, just their second regular-season victory on the 'Canes' home ice in three years. Red Deer followed with a 5-2 defeat of visiting Lethbridge five days later.

"The win there (Lethbridge Enmax Centre) was definitely big," said Pawlenchuk. "Through my time here we haven't had the greatest success there so that was definitely huge for us. We played well that game, kind of showed how we're capable of playing and that they are beatable in their rink.

"Coming back here and beating them again was kind of the same thing . . . just proving that we can beat them again."

Still, the Rebels have to be leary of putting too much stock into their two late-season wins over their first-round playoff opponents. The 'Canes, after all, hold home-ice advantage and although they struggled down the stretch - going 2-8 in their last 10 games - the playoffs are a different animal.

"Those games were kind of good for our confidence, but then again once we get into playoffs those games aren't a factor," said Pawlenchuk. "We just have to play the same way, but even harder. Just go out there and do the best we can."

The Rebels' lineup is littered with players who have yet to experience WHL playoff hockey. Most are first-year players, but key forwards Mason McCarty, 20, and Kristian Reichel, 19, also fit into that category.

"Everyone is definitely pretty excited," said Pawlenchuk. "We have a lot of young guys and other guys who haven't been in the playoffs in the league before, so it's going to be a good learning experience for them too.

"They're all excited to get their first playoff games in. The mood is pretty good and everyone is happy and positive right now."

Game 2 will go Saturday at Lethbridge, with the third and fourth contests set for Tuesday and Wednesday - March 27-28 - at the Centrium.

Additional games, if needed, will be played Saturday, March 31 in Lethbridge, Sunday, April 1 at the Centrium (6 p.m.) and Tuesday, April 3 in Lethbridge.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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