Rebels Turn Back Visiting Hitmen, Maintain Grip on First Place in Central Division
October 24, 2018 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release
And the beat goes on.
The Red Deer Rebels, once again, came out on the right end of a closely-fought WHL contest, defeating the Calgary Hitmen 3-1 Tuesday before 3,405 fans at the Enmax Centrium.
Unlike a nearly three-month stretch of last season when the team struggled mightily to produce a timely or decisive marker, one year later the Rebels have shown an ability to find another gear and another goal.
"We want to be a tight-knit group. That's really been a focus this year and that really helps later on in games . . . being tight and knowing we can win," said captain Reese Johnson, after the Rebels improved to 8-3-1-0 and maintained their hold on first place in the Central Division.
Defenceman Alex Alexeyev tallied twice, Ethan Anders made 30 saves for his seventh win of the season and top scorer Brandon Hagel sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.
Alexeyev scored 2:14 into the contest, moving down into the left circle and picking the top corner to the blocker side of Hitmen netminder Carl Stankowski, then notched the eventual winner 12 minutes later when his slapshot from the point deflected off a Calgary stick.
"He was great tonight. He gives us lots of minutes every night and he's a wonderful kid and a really good player," Rebels assistant coach Brad Flynn said of the Russian rearguard.
"We wanted to make sure we got pucks a little high and get shots from the top and he did a good job of that tonight."
The visitors got their lone goal on the power play with three minutes remaining in the opening frame, and it came off a lucky break. Jake Kryski's stick snapped as he was attempting a shot from the high slot and the puck darted to Egor Zamula, who snapped it home from the right circle.
"We started off quick. We wanted to get a good jump early and I thought we let our foot off the gas a bit which we've been doing lately," said Flynn.
"But a lot of credit to our veteran guys, our 20-year-olds. They pulled through and started grinding again and obviously everybody else followed suit.
"And Andy was great in net."
Among Anders' highlights were a rebound stop on Carson Focht, who he also stoned twice in the third period with the Rebels clinging to a 2-1 lead, and a save on Cale Zimmerman from in tight.
"Andy was awesome again," said Johnson. "He's been really good for us and he's just going to keep it rolling here hopefully. He's doing great, I'm happy for him."
Stankowski was equally as sharp at the other end and in fact robbed the Rebels of two goals in the opening period. First he stuck out a pad to deny Chris Douglas on a breakaway and then made a similar stretch save on Oleg Zaytsev.
Stankowski, who also turned aside Josh Tarzwell on a last-minute penalty shot, finished with 28 saves and was named second star of the game, sandwiched between first star Alexeyev and Anders.
"We battled hard There's a couple areas we still need to clean up and work on, but overall it was a pretty good effort," said Johnson.
"It was close all game and we stuck with it and battled hard and that's what we wanted to do."
Hagel basically erased any doubts as to the eventual outcome when he sailed a backhand from his own blueline into an empty net with 1:22 remaining. The goal was his 10th of the season.
Flynn said the shifts in momentum during the contest were often due to the Rebels simply not sticking to their game.
"We just got away from our identity. Brent (Rebels GM/head coach Sutter) is really big on our identity, about being courageous and competitive," he said.
"We got away from that and we started turning pucks over at the bluelines, and when we do that then we're an average team. When we stick to our identity and we keep it simple we showed what we can do."
Notable: Alexeyev, who scored the overtime winner Saturday versus the Kootenay Ice, notched his fifth and sixth goals of the season and has 14 points to date . . .Defenceman Jacob Herauf also had a multi-point game with two assists . . . The Rebels travel to Medicine Hat Wednesday for a meeting with the Tigers, and will host the Saskatoon Blades Friday before heading to Cranbrook for a Sunday clash with Kootenay.
Western Hockey League Stories from October 24, 2018
- Prince Albert Raiders Hold Steady in Top Spot of Kia CHL Top 10 Rankings - WHL
- Kia CHL Top 10 Rankings Unveiled - WHL
- Silvertips Defenseman Ronan Seeley Named to Team Canada White - Everett Silvertips
- Royals Add Gulka - Victoria Royals
- Blades Set to Host Tips - Saskatoon Blades
- Canadian Rosters Unveiled for 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge - WHL
- ICE, Wheat Kings Meet in Cranbrook - Kootenay Ice
- Game 14 vs. Red Deer - Medicine Hat Tigers
- Kids Coming out to Play for Team WHL - Saskatoon Blades
- Hurricanes Edge Wheat Kings in Game 1 of Trip - Brandon Wheat Kings
- Broncos Set Sights for Home After Road Trip Ends with Loss to Rockets - Swift Current Broncos
- Scott, Prince Albert Shut out Silvertips - Everett Silvertips
- Tri-City Dominates First of Back-To-Back Games against Prince George 5-1 - Tri-City Americans
- Rebels Turn Back Visiting Hitmen, Maintain Grip on First Place in Central Division - Red Deer Rebels
- Scott, Raiders Blank Silvertips At Art Hauser Centre - Prince Albert Raiders
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.
