Rebels dump WHL-leading Americans
Rebels 4 Americans 3 (SO)
Red Deer Rebels head coach Jesse Wallin had seen this act before, where his club looked in awe of a leading Western Hockey League team.
Such was the case in a 6-2 loss to the visiting Vancouver Giants Jan. 6 and it appeared to be more of the same through the first period and change of Wednesday’s clash with the Tri-City Americans.
But this time the Rebels regrouped and treated the visitors like a 20-man crew of Rodney Dangerfields the rest of the way, roaring back from a 3-0 deficit and recording a thrilling 4-3 shootout win before an official gathering of 4,237 at the Centrium.
“That’s as good as it gets,” said Red Deer defenceman Cullen Morin. “We were up against a very good team tonight and I’m proud of the guys with the way they played.”
The evening started on a positive note for the visitors as Red Deer product Justin Feser buried a feed from Neal Prokop 6:42 into the contest and then potted a power-play goal — his 25th of the season — with six seconds remaining in the opening period.
Brendan Shinnimin converted a rebound 1:18 into the middle frame for a 3-0 Tri-City lead, spelling the end for Rebels starting netminder Darcy Kuemper. Kraymer Barnstable came on in relief and eight minutes later the Rebels got on the board with Andrej Kudrna finishing a give-and-go play with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
“I thought we showed a lot of guts in buckling down and staying with it,” said Wallin. “The guys didn’t quit, we didn’t look up at the scoreboard and feel sorry for ourselves. It’s unfortunate that we dug ourselves that hole. We made a couple of mental mistakes and I think we gave their team too way much respect in the first period.
“They’re a great hockey team, there’s no question about it. They have a lot of speed and a lot of skill, they’re one of the top teams in the league for a reason. But we believe that we can play with anybody and we’ve proven that at times.
“I think we just gave a real good hockey team too much room to operate through that first period. We kind of addressed it and got going in the second period and I thought just before the (midway) time out in the second period we had two or three back-to-back shifts where we were really intense. We got our legs going and really hemmed them in their zone for a couple of shifts and seemed to get some momentum from that. And when we got that first goal that gave us some life.”
Indeed it did, and when Kudrna scored again at 13:49 — moving out of the corner and slipping the puck past netminder Drew Owsley — the Rebels were back in contention.
Red Deer continued to carry the play through the third period and finally drew even when Willie Coetzee, while off balance and from 25 feet out, drilled a shot to the right corner at 17:15 with Tri-City’s Brooks Macek serving a tripping penalty.
While Owsley was splendid in defeat, Barnstable was every bit as effective, stopping all 14 shots he faced and staring down all three Tri-City shooters — Shinnimin, Johnny Lazo and Kruise Reddick — in the shootout following a scoreless overtime session. Landon Ferraro beat Owsley with the first shot, which was followed by unsuccessful attempts by Coetzee and Kudrna.
“Barney came in and played very well. He seems to thrive on getting put in in precarious situations,” said Wallin. “He’s a real mentally strong young man and he just seems to thrive on a challenge. He loves the shootouts and loves being in that situation he was in tonight, trying to dig his team out of a hole. He stood in and played really well and he’s done that for us most of the year.”
“As the year has gone by I’ve been given those chances and so I’m starting to get a lot of experience and confidence,” said Barnstable, who stopped all 14 shots he faced through regulation and overtime. “I love it when the game is on the line. The guys turned it up too, they played really well when I came in and that was a real boost.”
The magnitude of the victory and especially the manner in which it was achieved wasn’t lost on Barnstable.
“It was huge for our guys to realize how good we are, to see us not only beat the best team in the league, but come back from a three-goal deficit,” he said. “We need to continue to use this to gain confidence and continue to pick up points and move up in the playoff race.”
Feser said the Americans took their foot off the pedal after their third goal.
“We pressed early but Red Deer played a pretty solid game,” he said. “They played hard but we let off the gas a bit the last half of the game and just couldn’t pull through.”
“That’s the way it looked, but I thought we just ran out of gas and I’m still trying to figure it out,” said Tri-City head coach Jim Hiller. “We looked tired. We just couldn’t skate and they (Rebels) just outskated and outworked us and earned the win.”
gmeachem@reddeeradvocate.com
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