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WHL Red Deer Rebels

Rebels Roar Past Rockets in First Home Game in Three Weeks

November 17, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


All too often, a team that has played a long spell of road games lays an egg in the first contest back at home.

The Red Deer Rebels didn't follow that script Friday night, and in fact were rock-solid from goaltender Ethan Anders on out while rolling to a dominant 7-0 WHL win over the Kelowna Rockets.

It was the Rebels' first game at the Centrium in three weeks and they didn't disappoint the 4,213 fans who witnessed the one-sided contest.

"Very solid," Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter said of his club's impressive performance. "I thought right from our first shift on we played the way we wanted to play as far as being persistent on pucks, hard on pucks.

"We knew we were playing a team tonight that has some good size. They compete and play hard. We had to get in the trenches and win some battles and be competitive and we certainly did that tonight."

The Rebels got the only goal they needed while killing a penalty just past the midway point of the opening period.

Brandon Hagel notched the short-handed marker when he pounced on a turnover at the Rebels blueline, pushed the puck ahead, out-raced two Kelowna players and beat netminder James Porter on a breakaway.

"Hages' speed is certainly different this year than it has been in the past," said Sutter, whose top forward sat out the team's previous game - last Sunday's 3-2 overtime win at Swift Current - with a nagging injury.

"He felt good tonight," said Sutter. "The last couple of games he was pretty sore but he had a week to get feeling better. He did that and tonight his skating was back to where it was before."

The Rebels went up 2-0 just over four minutes later on Dallon Melin's first-ever WHL goal. The Rebels rookie, parked alone in front of Porter, tapped home a perfect feed from Chris Douglas.

"That was an unbelievable pass. I think a pylon could have scored that goal," said Melin. "It felt good to get it but I didn't do much."

Douglas tallied his fifth of the season midway through the second period when Porter left his crease and attempted a diving stick check on the Rebels forward. The puck glanced up and over the goaltender and Douglas batted it into a gaping net.

Captain Reese Johnson potted yet another short-handed tally before the period ended, converting a pass from Brandon Hagel who rushed the length of the ice and fed his teammate from behind the Kelowna goal.

"Those two (short-handed) goals were huge," said Sutter. "You get those and you're obviously able to get some momentum.

"The important thing is they were early in the PKs and then we had to do a good job of killing them off and that's probably just as important so you don't lose that momentum."

The home side continued to pour it on in the final frame, as Jeff de Wit cashed a rebound early with former Rebel Lane Zablocki in the penalty box, Alex Morozoff scored from the edge of the crease and Carson Sass notched his second of the season with a wrist shot from the point that eluded netminder Roman Basran with Melin providing a screen.

Basran replaced Porter after the Rebels' fourth goal and stopped 13 of the 16 shots he faced the rest of the way. Porter turned aside 14 shots before being replaced.

Meanwhile, Anders finished with 28 saves to earn his second shutout of the season, his best coming on Nolan Foote's one-timer late in the game.

"Our kids played hard, they played well and our goaltender was solid," said Sutter. "Right through our whole lineup, I thought we got a lot of mileage from everybody tonight."

The fourth line of Melin, River Fahey and Austin Schellenberg got their share of plaudits from the Rebels boss.

"That line had some really good shifts," said Sutter. "That one shift in the second period they hemmed it in their zone. There was some action happening around the net at the time and they gained some momentum back for us after a shift or two in our zone.

"That line went out and did a good job and got the momentum back. That line was good and it was great to see 'Meller' score. The last few games he's really started to come. We're very happy with his progression, with his development, right now."

"We've been really clicking these last couple of weeks," said Melin, with a nod to his linemates. "It's been coming on in practice and we were due for a good one tonight.

"We played a full 60 tonight, everyone was jumping in, everyone was going. It was good."

Notable: Sutter coached his 900th regular-season WHL game Friday. Over 15 seasons, he's posted a 480-313-101 regular-season record and is 79-69 in the playoffs . . . Selected as the game's three stars were (1)Hagel, who had a three-point night with a goal and two helpers, (2) Douglas, who picked up an assist to go with his goal and (3) Anders . . . Also enjoying a multiple point night were Sass (1-1), Oleg Zaytsev, with two assists, Johnson (1-1) and Morozoff (1-1) . . . The Rebels, who host the Kootenay Ice Saturday, moved into a first-place tie with Edmonton in the Central Division. The Oil Kings gained a single point Friday in a 3-2 shootout loss at 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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