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WHL Red Deer Rebels

Rebels Unable to Gain Much Traction in Shutout Loss to Oil Kings

February 12, 2022 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Red Deer Rebels News Release


Are the Edmonton Oil Kings really as dominant as they showed Friday night at the Peavey Mart Centrium, or did the Red Deer Rebels help the visitors looked like an unstoppable force?

Probably a bit of both.

The Oil Kings have more star power than any other WHL club with at least a half dozen probable future NHLers in their lineup. They're a team that's added some big names since the start of the season, clearly set on capturing the league title - and more - before most of their top players move on to the pro ranks next fall.

At the same time, the Rebels lent their guests a helping hand by not playing up to their usual standards, particularly in the first and third periods of a 4-0 loss witnessed by a recorded audience of 3,411.

"I hope this doesn't sit too well with our guys," said Rebels head coach Steve Konowalchuk, whose charges fell eight points behind front-running Edmonton in the Central Division.

"I hope they're not feeling too good. It doesn't feel good and they'll learn from it. It was disappointing tonight with some of our execution and compete. We have to go out there and play harder and smarter than that."

The Rebels were on their heels early and became extra vulnerable when Kalen Lind and Jackson van de Leest were penalized for interference and slashing on the same shift.

To their credit, the Rebels killed the entire two-minute five-on-three, but just seconds after the penalties expired, Justin Sourdif stepped out of the lower left circle and snapped a shot past netminder Connor Ungar.

The Red Deer stopper held his team in the contest with a 20-save, first-period performance.

"We did not play the way we need to play in the first period, for various reasons for different players," said Konowalchuk.

The Rebels were a different team in the middle frame, more than holding their own against their northern neighbours. But they couldn't find the back of the net.

Red Deer finished with only 21 shots, including a second-period breakaway by Dallon Melin. Their Grade A chances were few and far between.

Part of that was the Oil Kings' ability to stop any Red Deer attack in its tracks and another part was the Rebels' lack of speed while venturing out of their own end.

"They (Oil Kings) did a good job in the neutral zone, especially in that first period," said Konowalchuk. "We weren't skating, our forwards weren't skating. We have to get moving, we have to get open for pucks.

"We have to have a game plan when we get the puck. We were getting the puck and we weren't skating. We were trying to figure out what to do with it when we got it.

"Normally we know what we're going to do before we get the puck. But if you're not skating you're not going to do anything. When your forwards aren't skating it looks like the other teams is even faster. They're a fast team but we made them look even faster."

The Rebels entered the final frame trailing by just a single goal, one shot away from pulling even.

"I thought at times we gave ourselves a chance to get back in the game," said Konowalchuk.

Instead, the Oil Kings got an insurance goal from Tyler Horstmann during a goalmouth scramble 8:26 into the third. Sourdif notched his second of the night seven minutes later when he circled the net and scored on a backhand - his shot glancing off a skate and past Ungar - and Kaiden Guhle added an empty-netter with two minutes remaining.

"There's a lot of hockey left and we have to learn from it," said Konowalchuk. "It was a bit of a character check . . . how bad do some guys want it?

"I know we have good character with our group, we've had good character all year. For some of these guys it's the first time they've been in this kind of scenario, a big game late in the season, and they didn't handle it well. But it also has to be a learning experience. We'll go back to work. We have a good group in there."

With 21 games remaining in their regular season, the Rebels will have to dig down deep virtually each and every night as the playoffs draw nearer.

"You have to fight for every inch and we didn't have that mentality tonight to go out there and take what the other team gave us," said Konowalchuk.

"It doesn't sit well with the coaching staff and the players."

Notable: Sebastian Cossa stopped all 21 shots he faced in the Edmonton net for his fifth shutout of the season. Ungar made 33 saves in a strong outing . . . The Rebels were zero-for-five on the power play, the Oil Kings zero-for-three . . . The three stars: (1) Sourdif, (2) van de Leest and (3) Edmonton forward Dylan Guenther . . . Liam Keeler was honoured prior to the game as the Mitchell and Jewell Rebels player of the month for January . . . The Rebels are idle until next weekend when they host the Saskatoon Blades and Winnipeg Ice Friday and Saturday.

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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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