WHL Red Deer Rebels

Rebels Fail on Both Sides of the Puck in Shutout Loss to Hitmen

Published on February 1, 2020 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


CALGARY - The Red Deer Rebels seemingly consumed most of their fuel during the first two periods of Saturday's WHL contest versus the Calgary Hitmen.

The gas gauge certainly appeared to be nearing the empty mark in the third with the visitors running on fumes en route to a 5-0 loss in front of 9,506 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Both teams played at home the night before, however the Red Deer players had to rise and shine a good two hours before their Hitmen counterparts Saturday morning.

Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter, however - and not surprisingly - was having none of that.

"That team (Hitmen) played last night too. I just didn't think we had enough push throughout the whole game," said Sutter.

"It was a tight-checking game and there were times we didn't fight through stuff."

Red Deer was credited with just 14 shots overall, a season low.

That number would have been higher if the Rebels had at least put the puck on net during a handful of scoring chances. Case in point: Red Deer players fired high and/or wide on three occasions from prime positions during a second-period power play.

"Missed the net a lot," Sutter concurred.

The Rebels boss, however, was more critical of his club's defensive play and the fact his crew has surrendered 24 goals in the last five games.

"You can't be giving up as many goals as we've been giving up," he said. "Even though we won against Brandon and Winnipeg (5-4 Wednesday and 6-5 Friday) we still gave up nine goals in those two games.

"We went two and three in the last five games but it's not very often you have to score six goals in a game to win."

Trailing 2-0 after 40 minutes, the Rebels were still within striking distance of their provincial rivals but needed a goal to get back in the game. Instead, the Hitmen tallied twice in the first seven minutes of the period to seal the deal.

Carson Focht potted his second of the game with a shot from the right circle and towering defenceman Jackson van de Leest notched the first of his two in a row - and just his second of the season - at 13:08 with a slapshot through a crowd.

Van de Leest rounded out the scoring just under two minutes later with a blast from the top of the left circle.

"We never really had a sustained forecheck tonight. Every time we had the puck we threw it away," said Sutter, whose team managed six shots in the first period and just four in each of the second and third.

"We have to spend more time in the opposition zone, and that's having the puck more. You have to want it more."

The Hitmen weren't overly impressive in the opening period, either, with five shots. But they had 23 the rest of the way, and many were due to defensive breakdowns by the visitors.

"We have to be better defensively, we have to tighten it up," said Sutter. "We need our goaltending to be better, we need our defencemen to be better and we have to be better at managing pucks in our zone.

"We need our forwards to do a better job in our own zone and be better at backchecking. Too many odd-man rushes again today. That's the responsibility of the forwards.

"When we're good at these things we play well. When we're not good at managing pucks and winning battles, we're not a very good team. We have to continue to work and get better."

The Hitmen got a goal from Connor Gabruch - a tap-in to complete a nifty four-way passing play - just 1:40 into the game and Focht scored his 23rd of the season during a second-period power play, ringing a shot off the post and past netminder Ethan Anders.

Notable: Anders finished with 23 saves . . . Jack McNaughton posted the shutout at the other end . . . Red Deer was zero-for-four on the power play and Calgary was one-for-three . . . Call-up forward Josh Medernach was back in the Rebels lineup for a second straight game due to a suspension, this time to Jaxsen Wiebe, who had to sit out a game after being assessed a major and game misconduct Friday . . . The Rebels host the Lethbridge Hurricanes Wednesday.

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2020


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